Tornado's Journal
by TornadoandTwilight
Summary: A series of journal entries from pony historian Tornado Firehooves about the ponies, places, and things in the world of my MLP fanfic series, the firehooves cycle. *Do not read if you haven't read any of the fics in my shared G1/G3/G4 fanfic universe*
1. Chapter 1

_Life in the Fast Lane-_

Hello there, my name's Whizzer. I'm a pink, jewel-eyed Pegasus from Dream Valley... you know, the one with the beanie propeller hat cutie mark? What? You say you haven't seen me around the castle before? I'm not surprised, most ponies just say I'm a fast blur zipping by them, leaving a blast of air in my wake. Few ponies ever really notice me, and I doubt few ponies ever will. In fact, writing like this seems to be the only wat I can communicate myself clearly, as my spoken words are nothing but a jumbled mess. The rest of the world precieves me as a speedy goofball who only cares about herself, like the time I left poor Sweet Stuff in the dust when were partners in that treasure hunt. I did

You know, everyone always tells me I'm way too fast for every pony around me- and in a sense, they're right. You may not know it, but I amcalled the fastest pony who has ever lived on the surface of this world. I can attain speeds half the speed of light, and Wind Whistler says I can get even faster. But in truth, to me it seems that all of you are going really slow, and I'm just moving at a normal pace. Pony Doctorsthink when my sister Fizzy and I were born, her slighly wonky magic affected me, and made me- 'faster' then everyone else. When I was a filly, it seemed like other Pegasus were flying by at the speed of a sloth. It was kind of hard to make friends, as everyone talked and played in slow motion. How can you play tag when you can just trot up and tag someone before they've even taken a step?

My teen years weren't much better. After mom shipped Fizzy and I off to my aunt in Dream Valley, I really tried to fit in. But how can you have a sleepover when your bored at fast asleep when everyone else is just getting to truth or dare? How can you go to a date with a stallion who you have to wait ten hours for him to even put his hoof around your shoulder. It's always been hard for me to relate to other ponies, I really wished they all just moved at the same pace as I do. I've had to learn to slow myself down for my friends when there is an emergency, but it can still be very, very hard. And everything I try to say or do comes off as a speedy, jumbled mess of insanity. No one wanted to play with the mare who always won at racing or pony polo, and I was forbidden to join any of the sports teams, as my condition was seen as a form of 'cheating'.

Wait, you say you've heard of me? Oh, I see... you were expecting the crazy spaz pony who's had too much caffeene, and acts like Surprise on Fast Forward. All of the other ponies see me as just another worthless, innocently stupid silly filly, without the brains in her head to fill a thimble. Sorry, but I'm not that pony, that just how all of you slow pokes precieve me. I try trotting as slow as I can, and flying as incredibly slow as I can. But it's sooo incredibly _boring _to do everyting at a snail's pace. And besides, is it my fault that the rest of the world is too slow for it's own good? I will say it does comes in handy when dealing with the foes of Dream Valley, being able to move waaay faster than a goblin or orgre. Let's face it, Tirek and the witches can't exactly keep up with one of the fastest living things on the planet!

I am actually a really smart pony, with a lot of interests and hobbies. For expample, did you know I like to colloct and customize pony dolls, dyeing thier manes and painting them? I even dream of having a booth at the annual doll fair in Bright Valley every year, but the ponies who run it won't give a spot to a mare who says all her sentences in one second. I'm also a skilled painter and artist, but I cannot get other ponies to even look at my beautiful landscapes and portraiture; they think all a hyperactive doofus like me can draw is crayon scribbles. The only hobby I have that doesn't get ruined is collecting beanie hats- in fact, I even won my first propeler hat in a race with the other Twinkle-eyed ponies. It's just a shame I can't share any of my hobbies with anyone else!

Sigh- it can be so lonely being me, somtimes. The only two ponies who really understand me are my sister Fizzy, and my Boyfriend, Hippity Hop. Ohhh, hippity is such a wonderful stallion, a handsome pink body and mane, and a cute bunny rabbit cutie mark! He's the fastest stallion alive these days, and can almost keep up with me, even with my... 'condition'. He spends most of his time racing around the world with the other big brother ponies, so we always celebrate joyusly when he can pay a visit back home to Dream Valley. Other than those two, I don't think anyone even wants to try and keep up with me. But you know what? I am not ashamed or embarrased by the kind of pony I am, and I have no desire to be like "everyone else". If they can't take take the time to get to know a mare a little bit faster than they are... well, that's thier loss. All I can say to the rest of the world is ethier try to keep up, or get your sorry flanks out of the way!

Now then, ifyouexcusemeIthinkI'llgoandpesterGustyandParadiseforahwileandthenmaybeI'llgoandgradaquicklunchandmaybethenI'll-ohyou'restillherewhat'stakingyousolongohwellseeyoulaterhaveagooddaybye!


	2. Chapter 2

_The Crumbling Equestria: Ponyville in the dark years... _

_In all of my writings on the history of Ponyland, I have often omitted anything to do with the dark times between the Fall of Equestria and the present. For your enlightenment, dear readers, I present here two excerpts from the Dream Castle archives, written by some of my wife's direct ancestors. They were keepers of the Dream Valley library, and historians in their own right. I warn you, these excerpts are not for the faint of heart;_

"The gathering darkness clouds in over Equestria, slowly eclipsing the glow of the light of friendship. Since the death of Princess Celestia, our fair land has been plagued by maladies of every sort. More and more townsfolk and small landholders are falling into heavy debt, causing them to fall under the power of the wealthy landholding ponies to whom they indenture themselves to. Inflation is skyrocketing, and mares and stallions who carefully saved their entire lives, now find their hoarded bits suddenly worthless. Greed has eclipsed friendship, as corruption has seeped into every level of society...

...the religion of the great Horsemaster swells in believers, the disillusioned ponies of this land realizing the two great alicorn sisters are all too mortal. Hordes of zealous followers of Zorypontha form mobs in the great cities of Fillydelphia and Manehatten, rushing in to smash and destroy the 'heathen idols' of Celestia and Luna. "Ponygans", they call the followers of the old faith, worshipers of false goddesses who they claim are only ponies like the rest of us. Their churches and cathedrals pack in new converts, while those of us Alicornists who remain watch as our temples and shrines see fewer and fewer visits. The Horsemaster followers tolerate us with a grudging contempt, even as our own numbers continue to diminish.

...the position of Stallions and colts continues to erode, as each new edict strips them of their rights to speak out against a mare, or to hold property. Alternate lifestyles and individual initiative are slowly being abolished, as the ponies who go against the herd are shunned and driven out. Even in our own Ponyville, I have seen a pair of outcast mares turn up drowned, after they had spoken out against the rising tide of strict morality the herd has embraced. And what does Princess Luna do to stop these travesties? Nothing, as she is still wrapped up in the grief of her sister's death. Our princess hides herself in her sorrow, as local noblemares seize power in each region. Loyalty to family and clan becomes more and more important, as friendship is spat upon and ridiculed as an outdated and illogical concept...

... I fear nothing can save our rotten society, even my own foals laugh at ideas the Harmony bearers once held dear. What can I say, when our school's teacher makes despairing remarks about an alicorn Princess who died as other ponies did? What can I do when my neighbors stand against anypony, who dares to speak out against the decay all around us? Our world is changing forever, and I fear it may not be for the better..."

Twilight Glitter, _This wicked generation of Equines_

_And here, dear readers, is another piece from a few generations later, during the fall of Equestria itself. Again be ward it is not for the faint of heart. _

"... if I sound angry and bitter, and not at all like a friendly Equestrian Pony. It is because my experiences have left friendship and happiness, both dead within my heart...

... they came out of the night like shadows, creeping into Ponyville whilst we all slept. Into the houses and buildings the goblin raiders stormed, the cries and screams of the foals and ponies they slaughtered filling the darkness all around us. The rooftops were set ablaze, and the famous town that had been home to the harmony bearers so long ago... blazed like a torch all through the night. The goblins carried away all the loot they could find, on carts pulled by our stallions they had enslaved. My children and I, along with many of the others who had managed to escape, fled into the nearby everfree forest and hid, whilst my husband stayed behind to defend the town library, our home.

All through the night we few survivors watched our town burn, and the morning brought the raider's departure. We returned to find the only home we had ever known reduced to a pile of ash. No stone remained standing on another stone, and torn and cut saddles, furniture, and other personal belongings lay scattered everywhere. My own unicorn husband had managed to seal the library beneath a protective barrier, which I now removed. He had saved our community's written history... but at the cost of his own life. I found his charred remains outside the town's gates... well, what was left of him, after the goblins had made their post-raid meal.

Alas, Ponyville! We abandoned her, as we gathered what little the looters have left us, and made for the safety of the Dream Castle! I pulled a cart filled with the books from my library deep into the everfree forest, but the sorrow in my heart is a far heavier burden. But my children and I are the last survivors of the bloodline of Twilight Sparkle, and for that reason we must endure. The house of Twilight has survived far worse depredations, and we will survive these troubling times.

Now, we dwell within the walls of this castle, while the timber wolves howls echo through the remains of our abandoned homes. Birds nest in the roofless kitchen of Sugarcube corners, whilst rats scurry through the filth in the ruins of the Carousel Boutique. Nature now moves to reclaim what was once Ponyville, as Equestria burns in the flames of Grogar and Tirek's wrath..."

-Twilight Gossamer, _The Grogar Wars_

_And there you have it. dear readers. It reminds us to remeber that the world and the lives we have now, are the result of the pain and misery of those who came before us. We must never forget thier sacrifice, nor what they lost so we can live in a better world now. _


	3. Chapter 3

_Twilight Disagreement_

_For my interested readers, a series of exchanges from my journal from last year- ohhh boy, have I learned not to make Twilight angry at the wrong times! And also never to enter late night pizza eating contests! _

_Tornado Firehooves_

_Dream Castle Historian_

Hello everyone! Today is the Spring Festival, a happy event where we ponies color eggs, eat candy, and play games to celebrate the end of the bitter cold months, and the dawn of Spring's bright warmth. In the olden days of Equestria, Tornado told me this holiday was known as Winter Wrap-up, when everybody in the kingdom helped in the changing of the seasons. But in more recent times, it is the day we celebrate the life of Zorypontha, who found new life in the stable of the great horsemaster after brining us his great philosphy. So whatever your reason for celebrating this day, may the warmth of the new season shine upon you and your family!

Since Tornado and Ember have gone to the outdoor stage to watch the spring festival concert, I am left here alone in our apartment to prepare this evening's feast. It has certainly been a busy and eventful week, with all the meetings in Majesty's court, and all of the paperwork... ugh! Anyway, with a little extra time between the ham going into the oven, I decided to levitate quill to paper, and write downs a few ideas of my own. I'm sure Tornado wouldn't mind if I penned a word or two!

I have decided to take a moment to thank all of Tornado's dear readers for taking the time to read his historical dramatizations- despite the fact they are overstuffed with exposition, tend to ramble on in a boring tone, and they have all of us ponies speak in long sentences like college professors. I know he strives for historical accuracy and technical detail, but that stallion cannot write romance or drama if his life depended on it! Though he has a strong imagination, and a charm that outclasses even the best of the Equestrian romantic poets! (And believe me no pony knows the magic of romance and wishing better than I do!)

In any case, thank you again for reading Tornado's writings, and overlooking his bad spelling and grammar. I hope all of you whose communities celebrate Thankfulness day, have a wonderful and bountiful feast! And may the Horsemaster watch over you and your family, and guide you into a new year filled with happiness and friendship!

Kindest regards,

Twlilght Shine- Firehooves

Dream Castle

...

Hello again, dear readers! I do wish to make the point that I am not very happy that my dear Twilight Shine had made a post on my personal journal to my readers. while I have no problem with my wife weighing in her opinion on my work (and believe me, at nine hundred pounds, Twilight can weigh in on pretty much anything she wants to), but I do wish she'd keep her comments out of my notes to you, my dear readers. Again, thanks for all of your patronage, and I hope you continue to enjoy my work!

Tornado Firehooves

Dream Castle Historian

...

To all of Tornado's dear readers,

This is to inform all of you, that a certain smart-mouthed stallion will henceforth be cooking his own meals, cleaning up his own messes, _and_ sleeping on the couch until he apologizes for his nasty remarks. I was willing to overlook his cracks about my cooking in his earlier writings, but this latest jab at my weight was the straw that broke the pony's back! Let's see how well can write yourself up something to eat, mister historian!

Twilight Shine-Firehooves

Irritated mare.

...

Dear Readers,

Do any of you know how cook a pizza in the microwave? I keep burning my hooves in the oven! Crud, how does she even work this blasted contraption?

Tornado Firehooves

Dream Castle Historian

...

To all of Tornado's dear readers.

You will all take note that Tornado has been very quick to aplogize, brining me flowers and candy and taking me to the amusement park in Bright Valley. This, my fellow mares, is how you bring a stallion to heel, by pulling back on the reins and making him bite the bit. Just as my mom always said, the way to deal with a misbehaving male in through thier empty stomache. Sheesh, husbands can be so hard to discipline, can't they?

In all seriousness though, I ask for is a mutual level of respect, and I really don't think that is really too much to ask for!

Twilight Shine-Firehooves

...

Hello again, everyone. I just thought I'd stop in and tell you that a certIan stupid historian, whose eyes are bigger than his stomache, may not be around for awhile. Seems the doofus decided to eat fourteen slices of stuffed crust pizza packed with peepperoni for lunch, on the same day I served him Hoofkaido _Shin Ramyun_, his favorite dish, for supper. I am now taking care of a moaning, screaming stallion who keeps grabbing his midsection in pain, and cleaning up digestive juice he keeps coughing up on my satin lace pillow covers, and all over our beautiful pink lace canopy bed. Oh yeah, and the physical pain I'm feeling from him over the lifebond? NOT... PLEASANT.

To make matters worse, I discovered that dear little Surprise is the one who goaded Tornado into entering that pizza eating contest in the first place. To a certain blonde bimbo who thinks it's funny to stuff a stallion with digestive problems with greasy pepperoni, don't be 'surprised' when you wake up one of these mornings with all of your feathers plucked, like a Turkey before a human thanksgiving feast. Now, if you'll all exuse me, I hear Tornado throwing up in the other room again.

Twilight Shine-Firehooves

Dream Castle Court Mage


	4. Chapter 4

_** A collection of letters, to and from miss Cheerilee:**_

_**On Cutie Marks:**_

_To my dear readers,_

_For my entry here, I have decided to publish a letter given to me by Miss Teacher, the lovely and polite blue mare with a pink mane and glasses cutie mark. It's poor translation is a reflection of the writer's poor grasp of modern english, as Old Equestrian was her primary tounge. It is a very telling message about the troubling times in which we live..._

To Miss Teacher, the chief educator of the youth of Fort Rainbow Dash;

Salutations, I am the new teacher of the kingdom of Dream Valley schoolroom. We met at the Ponyland teacher's convention a few months past, and had a lengthy debate on modern foal education techniques. I am writing to you, in regards to a matter that greatly concerns me. I wish to speak to you in regards to the subject of Cutie Marks (or brand marks, as modern colts and stallions insist on calling thiers) , and a misunderstanding I am hoping you can clear up

Over the past year, I have noticed that all of my students already have thier cutie marks when I started teaching. At first, I believed that they had all simply discovered thier special talent by the time I had taken over, and Sundance had simply done her job in helping them discover who they were. But, I have recently started to notice that even the youngest foals in the castle already had thier cutie marks, and there are extremely few 'blank flanks', even among the newborns. I had simply dissmissed this as an odd quirk of modern society, until I overheard a few of my students talking about how they were _born_ with thier Cutie Marks already on thier flanks.

At first, I thought this may have been my students trying to give thier ancient teacher another dose of 'culture shock', of which they are wont to doing. But as I asked around among the adult Dream Valley ponies, they did not seem to regard this is a joke at all. Rather, I was informed that there are a pitiful few ponies that are now actually born as blank flanks, (such as my adopted daughter Quackers, and Twilight's adopted daughter Ember), and such 'throwbacks', as they are called, are actually pitied because they cannot be more quickly funnled into the education and appreticeships focusing on thier special talents from the earliest age possible.

I am desperately writing to you in the hope that you can confirm this disasterous information as a monsterous joke. In ancient Equestria, the greatest joy of a young pony was the journey of self-discovery in finding out who they were, and what thier special talent was. Such self-discovery was the very foundation on which Equestrian culture was founded, as each pony's life was a result of this attempt to find thier place in pony society. And it is my greatest joy as a teacher, the very focus of many of the lessons I hope to teach in the coming year with my new students, to help my Dream Valley class on thier journeys to discover who they are.

If this fact is true... if Ponyland's society and culture has become so caste-ridgid, conservative, and pre-determined that ponies are now born into thier roles... then our race has lost so much of what made us great. How... how could we have possibly lost this wonderful trait, which made it so each pony had the potential to become anything they wanted, and could sift though many diffrent skills, hobbies and professions to find thier place in life. Yes, we can start ponies on thier pre-chosen paths earlier in life, but what are we eduactors now? Instead of being guides of youths along thier life paths, we are now nothing but mere regurgitatiors of facts.

So, I urge you, a fellow educator- please tell me this is all some sort of monstorus joke. Please reassure me that our society is still based on a pony reaching thier potential based on talent and sef-discovery. Until I hear otherwise from you, I will continue to believe that this whole thing is all a ridiculous prank that Dream Valley is intentionally playing on me. For I cannot believe that this cruel society of violent, angry stallions and flesh eating ponies, of stifling rules and feudal lordships- is the world that my precious baby will be born into.

Sincerely yours,

Miss Cherrilee Wigwam-Thunderhoof

Dream Valley Department of education

_Miss Teacher was never able to bring herself to write a proper response. She didn't have to, however, as Baby Cheerilee was born three months later, her own flank blessed with her mother's cutie mark. Away from Dream Castle at the time, I was told the distraught mare cried for three days straight._

...

To Miss Cheerilee, teacher of the Dream Valley castle school room-

I must apologize for my tardiness in replying to you, as I could not think of the best way to approach your inquiry. But having heard how much personal grief recent events have caused you, I have decided to approach your question in the most through way possible.

Firstly, I must sadly admit that what you have heard about brand and cutie marks is indeed... correct. Newborn foals are indeed already graced with thier marks from the start, and only a scant few are born as what the ancients called 'blank flanks'. It is also true that foals will often be born with the brand/cutie mark of one of thier parents. I must point out, however, that all foals do indeed still go through journeys of self discovery to find out thier 'special talent' as you Equestrians called them , and they do indeed have the potential to become whatever thier own abilites lead them to be. It is also still the duty of pony teachers to help guides foals in finding thier special talents, and our educational system and culture are still built around said philosophies.

The awnser, my good Cheerilee, lies not in the fact that we know what the cutie marks _are_ from birth...

But rather we do not know what they _mean_.

Consider, as you told me, how you earned your flower cutie mark. You were involved in an activity that involved teaching at the time it appeared, and therefore knew what those three smiling flowers meant. If you had been born with said mark, you would have no idea what your cutie mark was telling you. Were you supposed to be a gardner? Do the smiling flowers symbolize you making other ponies laugh? A modern foal must still sift though the various talents to find the one that makes her cutie mark tingle, indicating to her that this is what she is supposed to do with her life. I have heard your own student, Baby Firefly, has her mother's lightning bolt cutie mark, yet Firefly the elder's mark represents her flight skills and prowess as an adventuerer and a daredevil, whilst I've heard the offspring's lightning bolt is a sign of her adeptness at playing rock and roll music- a talent, I've heard, she enjoys more than any other.

A pony's way of finding their special talent may have changed, Cheerilee, but the process and meaning have not. It is still up to each filly and colt to discover who they are, the cutie and brandmark are now signposts along the way, rather than the indicator a young pony has arrived at thier destination. In other words, Cheerilee... your special little treasure _still_ has the potential to become whatever she wants to be one day, she will simply have to understand what her cutie mark is telling her.

Kindest Regards,

Miss Teacher,

Fort Rainbow Dash School System

...

**Only one kind of Pony:**

Hello, everypony- er, everybody. My apologies, it's still hard for me to get used to all of your strange customs. You know, ever since I woke up in this modern era, I have been struck at how different your world is from the one I knew. It's primitive, barbaric, and everything I've ever held dear has been either trampled upon or been rendered obsolete. I am still getting use to this more savage culture, and sometimes my students end up teaching me, just as much as I teach them. But out of every terrible aspect this brutal society has shown to me, there is one aspect that I admire about Dream Valley and the confederacy more than any other.

When I was teaching my students about the history of Equestria, I uncovered a great surprise when I came to the lesson about how Equestria was founded by the three tribes, my students failed to comprehend how this could be so. Not the coming together of three hostile tribes as friends- that they understood well enough. But the concept that ponies had once been divided based on their appendages and abilities... well, that was an extremely difficult concept for them to grasp. These ponies have parents, siblings, and friends that they don't see as ponies any different than themselves. "That would be like all blue ponies being friends, and hating all red ponies- it's just so weird!" Baby Firefly told me.

Now in Equestria, any such type of prejudice on a large scale had long since died out. Put personal biases still remained along with public stigmas. earth pony pride still ran strong, as Ponyville kept it's tradition of a winter wrap up with no magic. And certain types of pony mostly stuck with 'their own kind' when they chose very special someponies. But here, even the concept that there _are_ different kinds of ponies in an idea so alien to my students young minds, that they cannot fully grasp the significance of Equestria's founding to the concept of toleration. If only the Confederacy were this tolerant in other areas of other pony aspects of life, these religious problems going on right now would not be occurring. I myself might have taken my husband's faith upon our marrige, but I know of many ponies outside of Dream Valley right now who are not so lucky...

Miss Cheerilee

Dream Valley schoolteacher


	5. Chapter 5

"Why do ponies nowadays treat pacifism with contempt? Even in its early ages, Equestrian ponies were more pacifist than today's ponies."

This inquiry can be awnsered in a few simple points. First of all, Equestria was a mosty peaceful and civilized society, where violence as a solution to problems was the antihesis of friendship, and was seen as a counterproductive solution that was frowned upon. However the Grogar wars, and the ensuing chaos that surrounded the fall of equestria, hardened our species into the killers we are today. Goblins being among the invaders, thier culture was one that respected strength, and believed only the strongest should survive. When a more peaceful town or pony village would offer peace to thier hordes, the goblins would take it as a sign of weakness, and destroy the entire town. The gentle, the meek, and the kind were the first to be cut down in a conflict that claimed the lives of nearly 60% of Equestria's population.

The survivors were the ones who fought back, and thier offensive philosphies forged the new ponylnd confederacy, and were passed down to future generations. The Hoofkaido and Fort Rainbow Dash War Machines intentionally hardened stallions into grizzled soldiers, and every pony communtiy began sending thier males there to be trained, so that they too could be defnded. As madatory service turned our male gender more and more brutal and brutish over the generations, the more civilized females found us unberable to live with outside of the home and domestics settings, hance why most males etheier spend thier live in the military, or racing around the world. But even the 'civilized' females favored war as it meant defense of the herd. Even after Grogar was banished and a temporary truce signed with Tirek, the goblis and other beasts kept coming of thier own accord. When the goblin hordes and monsters were driven back after four generations of unending battles, our culture had changed irrevocably, as no pony alive by that point even remebered the time before warfare. Our culture has been in a state of aggressive preparedness ever since. Even if thier is no enemy to fight, we ponies will make one.

"While Fort Rainbow Dash was named after the infamous Element of Loyalty...has the other Pony kingdoms paid any tribute to the infamous Elements of Harmony?"

Indeed they do, my good pony! The Harmony Bearers are well remembered- even honored- among the population of Ponyland- as the ideal of what every mare and filly should strive and aspire to be (note I said ideal, not actual). Ironically, they are remebered not so much for thier elements and how well they lived up to the principles of friendship, but rather for thier heroism and bravery in defending Equestia from threats both internal and external. The most popular account of thier lives is the epic ballad "Friendship is magic", which recounts thier lives from the time of Twilight Sparkle's arrival in Ponyville, all the way up to miss Sparkle's anscesion to honarary princesshood, for all of her studies on friendship. (Though it contains many flourishes from pony folklore, such as Princess Sparkle becoming an alicorn). I myself have seen the play performed at Bright Valley's Popcorn theatre, and reccomend it to anyone who is passing through the town between June 1st and August 31st- the play's annual running period. (Tell Miss Butter Pop I sent you, and you should get in for half admission.)

Fort Rainbow Dash was the one town directly named for one of the Harmony bearers- so named because 1.) the ruling class at the time was reaching for the military spirit of old Pegusopolis, and it wanted to evoke the memory of Equestria's most famous Pegasus heroine), 2.) The house of Dash had settled in the Citadel after the Grogar wars, and the Acherons wanted to placate them. But the other Harmony bearers have been honored in other ways. The waterfall behind Dream Valley was long ago renamed Fluttershy falls, the great library in the Royal Paradise is called the Twilight Sparkle library, and the Rarirty memorial gardens are the most visited natural shrine in Hoofkaido. (Seriously, you _must_ go to there too see the waterfall pagoda with it's muti-tiered cascades, and my beloved Twilight would hoof-smack me if I failed to mention to all the mares and fillies the annual Rarity fashion show they put on every spring- Firefly's cousin Rainbow Flash will be showing off her new line of gowns for the Grand Gallping Gala this year. Okay Twilight I plugged your friend's dresses, now will you please make me my lunch?)

Statues, parks, and even universites have been erected in the girls honor (Who hasn't heard of the Rarity school of Fashion in Bright Valley? Or the Fluttershy Nature preserve in Fort Rainbow Dash? Baby Quackers took one of her her mallards, Duck Soup, there to get his broken wing treated by one of the caring staff.) And I attended Twilight Sparkle's school for gifted unicorns in Misty Mountian. (They ironically have a lot of parks and statues dedicated to Twilight Sparkle in Misty Mountian, probably has nothing to do with the fact her former babysitter was thier ruler for centuries, now does it?) Almost every ponyland community has a Pinkie Pie comedy club, and The Pinkemina Diane Pie center for the performing arts in the Royal Paradise is the grandest theatre in all of Ponyland.

There are also social and cultrual organizations and customs centered around them. The filly scouts have a Rarity badge of Generosity, a Pinkie Pie Badge of Laughter, a Rainbow Dash badge of Loyalty, a Fluttershy Badge of kindness, and a Twilight Sparkle badge of friendship. All five must be attained to move to the next scout rank (I'm sure colt scouts would have an eqivalent- if the colt scouts were made legal again) And thier are five sisterhoods (clubs/societies) dedicated to each of the Harmony bearers- Fluttershy's sisterhood of kindness is made up of ponies who work with animals, Rainbow Dash's sisterhood of Loyalty is joined by those in daredevil and heroic professions, Rarity's is made up of fshion ponies, Pinkie's is made up of comedians and revelry makers, and Twilight Sparkle's is composed of gifted unicorn mages. ) So, hope that awnsers your question.

"Who are the Penna?"

The Penna are a race of highly intelligent, white crane-like birds who, long before the arrival of Ponies, had an advanced civilization in Equestria. Under the rule of the wise king Ruff Freathers, it was thier magic that drove the waters of the sea back from Ponyland, and it was they who defeated the eldritch abomination Squirk who ruled these lands when they were under the waves, diving the beast back into an imprisionment deep beneath the oceans. It was they who gave the golden horsehoes to the first unicorn, and created many of the scared and powerful artifacts that ponykind treasures to this day. They had powerful magics, which even allowed the Penna to shapshift and take diffrent forms. Eventually, the Penna migrated from Equestria, some say a creation made in thier own labratories, a race called the draconequi, used thier chaotic magic to drive them from these lands, but none know for sure.

Thier civiliztion had fallen long before ponykind's rise, and they often were looked upon as a thing of awe and amazement by ponies, who romanticized the ruins they left behind. Our earliest unicorns learned thier magics and shaped thier horns by studying the scrolls and wrtings found in the Penna ruins, making them the race that indirectly introduced magic to our species. It was also thier flight manuals and notes on shaping magic that inspired unicorn mages to give other ponies wings- creating the first Pegasus. Penna pyramids and ruins were often riddled with powerful artifacts and deadly traps- as seen in the popular 'adventures of Daring Do' books written in the Equestrian age.

"What motivated Grogar and most goblins to destroy Equestria?"

To understand the awnser to this one, it is important a pony understand one simple principle... _Equestria was not the pony utopia many today make it out to be._ -At least, that's the way Grogar saw it. The old goat was born and raised in old equestria, in a society that he believed treated sentient non-ponies as second class at best, and as slaves at worst. AJ told me stories about how they kept talking sheep and cows as live-in employees on thier farm, but from Grogar's point of view, they were clearly only _property_. Ponies may not have hated other species, as he saw it, but they certainly didn't treat them as equals, and instead held them in contempt (This doesn't include all ponies, there were exceptions, of course). Grogar grew up in a world that called him scum, and joined organized crime, a field Equestrian ponies wouldn't lower themselves to go into. Of course he wanted to destroy that civilization.

As to the goblins, the pony authorities didn't even want to aknowledge they existed. The goblin tribes, with a few exceptions, such as the grundles- have always been a brutal and violent race, leeching of and terrorizing the weak, and obeying the strong. Celestia's court constructed the guard outpost town of Tambelon along the northern border to keep the tribes at bay, giving unsuspecting pony guards who went there the job of being the cannon fodder the goblins would endlessly dash themselves against. When Tambelon suddenly reappeared in the middle of Equestria five hundred years ago under Grogar's rule, the viscious goblins found easy prey amongst the soft ponies of Equestria, and Grogar found his revenge in slaying Princess third agent in Equestria's fall, Tirek, also had his reasons for hating ponykind, but we'll get into those in my next entry.

"Why was there a Cold War between Equestria and Dream Valley?"

Dream Valley and Equestria have never much seen eye to eye, it comes from our 'thorny' history with each other. Our First Queen, Rosalyn Majesty, was descended from the old unicorn royalty that the alicorn sisters had wrongfully usurped (In thier eyes, anyway). And while at first she was grateful to recieve her own kingdom, resentment soon began to build that the Majesty bloodline had been dumped out in the wilderness to rule a bunch of outcasts. It's the reason both Rosalyn and Rosedust took the title 'Queen' of thier respective kingdoms, they wanted to be seen as superior to the alicorn princesses.

Dream Valley was first settled by Equestrian Exiles, ponies who were alienated and exiled by a powerful, snobbish, and arrogant Equestrian Eliete. Jewel Eyed ponies, sea ponies, an exiled changling clan- there were many in Equestria who wanted these misfits stuffed away in the Everfree forest, and never heard from again. There were even some in high places who tried to wipe us out, though they failed miserably. And before anybody says Equestria was 'too nice' to exile and try to wipe out other ponies... the majority of Equestria's ponies may have been decent equines, but not all ponies believed in friendship and kindness. A disinterested and dissaffected Canterlot unicorn eliete, wealty and unethical business ponies- It was easy for sinister groups, such as the order of gloom, to work thier evil right under Celestia and Luna's royal noses, just as a chageling queen snuck into Caterterlot right under thier noses and replaced a memeber of the royal household, whithout ethier of the all too imperfect alicorns ever knowing it.

Dream Valley never forgave Equestria for the cruelty of those first days of the kingdom, and our diplomats took every attempt to damage Canterlot's standing at every foriegn court in this world. The destruction of the Wonderbolts, the estrangement of the griffon courts from Celestia and Luna's ambassodors (thanks to a little Masquerade-clan counter-intelligence), and our sea ponies's plundering of ships that drew too close to the coast, then blaming it on the Equestrian ponies. We put the squeeze on the aling principality, even as they clamped down tighter and tighter on our imports and accsess to much needed trade outside of the everfree forest. Were it not for the Masquerade clan and the Flutter ponies's black market trading providing us with medical supplies and resources, we would have perished long before the Grogar wars.

Celestia's death elicited little mourning from Dream Valley, but Luna's ascension to sole ruler did ease tension from our side. But alas, the majority of the Equestrian population then learned of our previous misdeeds, and resented how much suffering our actions had caused them. Couple that with the fact the Dream Valley ponies consumed meat, and we were labeled barbarians by the rest of ponykind. Dream Valley lay untouched by the Grogar wars via a declaration of neutrality, while the rest of Equestria suffered untold damage, destuction, and casualties. That gave the new confederacy the perfect reason to despise Dream Valley, even though the main reason we were not invaded was the monster's fear of the everfree forest. Nevertheless, misdeeds and mistakes on both sides led to a wall of mistrust, that in some cases continues to this very day.

"In fact, what motivated ponies to start eating meat? Desperate situations or something else? When did this happen? Is it now a dietary requirement, or just a capability?"

Dream Valley ponies share a unique ability that no other herds in the confederacy have- the rare and some say bizarre talent of eating meat. It came about due to food shortages early in the kingdom history, due to Equestria's trade embargo in an attempt to starve our kingdom out (thanks to the orderof gloom, who was pulling the puppet strings of Celestia's bearuacracy- in this particular matter, at least). Unable to grow the proper abount of crops to feed our population, royal courtiers North Pole and Minuette Coldgate created a spell to alter the phisology of our stomaches so we could consume cooked meats. Supplementing our diet with protien, Dream Valley ponies over the next four centuries began to prey on the everfree forest animal population. Ponies were introduced to the joys of bacon, pepperoni, and cheeseburgers.

Sadly, this did not endure us to our neighbors in ponyville- particularly those whose special talents involving animals. I am sad to say, from the scant records we have of the period... in thier later years, the harmony bearers were not exactly fans of our dietary practices. Fluttershy in partuclar appearently had some very unpleasnt things to say about our kingdom, particularly how it would be better for equestira if we all were turned into a timber wolves afternoon snack. Applejack tells me she learned to live with it centuries ago, but I fear had the others survived thier opinions might not have been as civil. But equestrian ponies were horrified and disgusted by our actions, and mothers would often tell thier foals to 'be good, or else the Dream Valley ponies will come and gobble you up!"

Nowadays, the original enchanment is long forgotten. But the dietary nesscessity has been passed down. Immagrants to Dream Valley, such as AJ, Firefly, Posey, and my fellow mountian boy ponies are not meat eaters, but thier offspring's descendants will become such, as they assimilate into the herd. Twilight and Glory are however, andd not a meal goes by that my wife doest serve some juicy, sizzling meat dish that ember and I kiterally lap up. The two downsides to our altered stomachs is normals pony foods like hay and grass now make us sick, and without protien and red meat in our diet, Dream Valley ponies _will_ get sick. Our only consolation is that the humans brought thier unintelligent animals from the other world when they migrated here, and we've been able to trade and aquire our own livestock.

What? You're wondering how I gained the ability to eat meat, being a pony from misty mountian? It just so happened that my parents were... ah well, that's a story for another time. Now, if you'll excuse meI think I smell Twilight grilling up some bacon on the stove...

"What corrupted Midnight into Tirek and what is it?"

Midnight Hooves, magical researcher and unicorn shcolar, and was one of the most intelligent unicorns to come out of the Royal academy of magic. So great was his magical talent and ability, that he was trained in magic by none other than Princess Celestia herself. Much like her other two recorded personal students, Sunset Shimmer and Twilight Sparkle, Midnight showed a magical potential that the alicorn hoped would help the unicorn reach his true potential. Sadly, Midnight showed more inrest in pushing his power forward than in friendship, and Celestia soon gave up on him had she had Sunset before him. It would be her next student, a famous purple unicorn, who would finally live up to all of Celestia's expectations. Cast aside like a worn out horseshoe, Midnight was haunted by his failure for the rest of his life.

Continuing his research at the university, Midnight eventually achieved a professorship. Studying the ruins of the Penna civilization, the unicorn followed his studies to Ponyville, where he met and married Ditzy Doo "Derpy" Hooves, the klutzy local mailmare. Digging around in the anicent Penna ruins, he found the flashtone- an ancient magical talisman that corrputs the user, much as the alicorn amulet does. Attempting to tap the power of this ancient artifact brought Midnight's contempt for ponykind, and his anger over how his wife was treated, boiling to the surface. By studying the flashstone, Midnight learned how to tap the dark magics created by hate, rage, and sorrow- the same power the nightmare demons used to corrupt Sombra and Nightmare Moon so long ago.

But the nightmares are merely the servants of thier true master... the one true Tirac, the beast sealed behind the gates of Tartarus, great adversay of the Horsemaster. The humans know this creature as the Morningstar, the entity who once served as the horsemaster's greatest servant, before being cast out of the great stables to rule in the hellish infernal region that is tartarus. Every evil thought within a pony's heart comes from this ambomination, and even beings as powerful as Discord feared his dark influence. The Tirac reached through the dark energies Midnight was tapping, and poisioned his heart and mind, turning the poor misguided unicorn into an avatar of the dark one- the centaur wizrad known as Tirek. All of the enimies of Ponykind- Grogar and Crysalis, Sombra and the witches- The evil Tirek towers above them all as the greatest evil our race has ever faced.

The one pony I feel the most sorry for in all of this is actually poor Ditzy Doo. That silly little mare never knew the monster her beloved husband became, and I shudder to think how a simple minded pony such as her would react to her husband being a self-righteous...

... oh, excuse me, Twilight's calling me downstairs.

-Tornado Firehooves

-Dream Castle Historian


	6. Chapter 6

**Comments from Firefly and Buttons**

Hey ladies and gents, what's up? Firefly here, Dream Valley's a nuber one best daredevil flyer, and the coolest pony you'll ever meet! Like my famous ancestor, I'm always up for an awesome adventure. I can perform arieal stunts that would blow the best Pegasus away. My voice may just sound like Sandy Duncan, but I ain't no little sweetheart.

Okay okay yeah, I know my reputation precedes me. I'm sure you've heard all the stories- how me and my gals saved every community in Ponyland from it's own ignorance, and fought in the recent battle against the monster infestation at the Canterlot ruins. But, I've been hearing some pretty annoying rumors going around, about how I'm a big softie and sissy, because I take part in girly stuff with my friends, and I got married and had foals.

I'm sorry but, _excuse me_? Just because great granny Dash was self conscious about what others thought about her, I don't give a damn what other ponies think about my image. So what if I have tea parties with my daughter and lick my hubby's coat clean in public? So what if I spend the night in Posey's apartment with her and Glory, get a facial and have my mane done while listening to the girliest gossip? If you have a problem with me and my friends giving each other makovers- FLANK OFF!

Oh, and for those who question my past- yeah, I lived a pretty adventureous life in Fort Rainbow Dash, but I don't see how it's any of your business. Yeah when we were teens Medley and I used to fly into the oily swamp near the citadel, and tease the orges there until they chased us. It was stupid, but we got away, didn't we? I've proven my strength when I helped defeat Tirek with a double inside out loop- let's see any other pony daredevil claim that!

And yes, that gossip rag in Bright Valley was right- before I met Twilight and the others, I worked in the Wispering Whirlgig- one of the sleaziest dives in the Stickleway- as a waitress and a wing dancer. I was rooming with my flutter pony friend Hollywood- she was working as a waitress in the Stickleway, and she wouldn't have had anywhere else to go if I hadn't stuck with her! Besides, I was able to meet all kinds of colts and stallions working down there, and I picked up a bunch of valuable life lessons in the Whirlgig!

Speaking of colts... I am well aware of my reputation as a boy addict. And again I say, so what? Yeah, I've had more boyfriends than years AJ has been alive (and yes, I know her secret), but I don't see that as any diffrent from any other ponies' little quirks. And besides, I've never heard any complaint out of my hubby about some of the stuff I learned from dating my ex's *snicker*. And I have _never_ looked at another stallion or colt since Thundercloud and I got together... I _was_ going to be the element of loyalty, after all. And for all my filly fooling, I was still a maiden until I got married. (okay yeah, the lifebond and all... BUT THAT'S BESIDE THE POINT!)

Anyway, thanks for listening to this angry tomboy for a little bit, and thanks to Tornado for writin' it all down for me. Just remeber not to judge a mare based on what ya've heard, but try and get ta know her first. And to all other Pegasus mares... if ya ever want ta race, and yer in the Dream Valley area... I'm always lookin for a challenge.

Lady Firefly Dash-Thundercloud

Dream Valley air commander

(Oh, Thundercloud, your guard shift's over? We'll just go back to our room then, heh heh heh...)

...

_Normally, I'd put one of my historical excerpts here, but I've been asked to publish a piece by a particularly flustered mare who is a friend of my wife. She has some frustrations she'd like to share, and I've edited and placed them here in my journal per her request. I was asked to put this in way back before the Smooze incident a few years ago, but I see no harm in finally publishing it now._

Tornado Firehooves

Dream Castle Historian

Hello everbody, nice to meet you all! My name's Buttons, and I'm one of the chief seamstresses here at the Dream Castle. If you have ever paid a visit to Dream Valley, maybe you've seen me; the pink unicorn with the blue mane. Usually I'm ethier sewing buttons back onto the clothing of the castle's ponies, or helping Bow Tie and Ribbon create the wonderful masterpieces in the dress shop we all run together. Stiching, measuring, and adusjusting hemlines is a work of art, despite what some may think about fashion and clothing being a frivlous pastime. My buttons and stars cutie mark is a proud symbol of who I am, and I wouldn't trade that for all the jangles in Bright Valley!

Now, I do many projects around the castle in my spare time, without thought of compensation or reward. One of those projects is helping to coordinate the Spiring Festival dace routine the foals in the castle put on every year, which I ususally desigin the costumes for. Ususally, these tasks are a lot of fun, and the fillies are happy to stand for the fittings and refittings I do on thier outfits. I let them mess around in the dress shop after a fitting or when were rehearsing a dance number, and then try on some of the outfits and play dress up while I work. Baby Lofty and Baby Gusty even help me out in the shop from time to time, and I have let them pick out hair clips and accessories as a reward. Yeah, I really love working with the fillies here in the castle.

But there is one little filly who's in the spring recital every year, who is bound and determined to make my life a living nightmare. A spolied, selfish brat who only thinks about herself, and has selfish temeper tantrums whenever she doesn't get her own way. Just thinking about that litle purple foal makes my blood pressure shoot up, and I am once again wondering why the horsemaster made a little monster like Baby Lickety Split.

What? You think I'm being to harsh on a little filly, you say? Oh, you don't this little demon like I do, and you don't have to deal with her on a day to day basis like I do. She'll prance around the shop like she owns it, gleefully tearing things up and stealing bows, buttons, and thimbles. I've had to replace Bow Tie's sewing machine twice after she wrecked it, and I swear Ribbon's gonna strangle me if another set of her custom made Hoofkaido jewelry disappears. I'd refuse the brat entry to the shop, but that would just cause a bigger stink around the castle than it's worth.

And that's nothing compared to how she treats her peers. Every dance routine she refuses to do the steps with the other fillies- she bites, kicks, and screams at them. "You're dance is so lame! _My_ moves are better!" She'll taunt the other girls, getting them alone so they don't gang up on her. I can't stand the way she bullies Baby Shady, that little earth ponies self esteem can't get any lower. Baby Lickety Split's told the poor little filly she's a horrible dancer so many times, that she bursts into tears every time I ask her to come to rehersal. I swear if I hear "I'm the star so I should be out in front!" One more time, and I swear I'll strangle that filly with my bear hooves!

And it's not just at the Spring Festival she causes trouble, oh no! She'll steal the other fillies' toys and belonings when they're not looking, and one night she even locked the other girls out of the Lullabye Nursey* when they disagreed with her, and forced them to sleep out in the cold rain and shiver. And whenever mama Lickety Split has to work at The Satin Slipper, guess who ends up getting to watch the little terror? She's already mixed all the colors of my makeup together, used my lipstick to write all over the pirceless vanity I inerited from my grandma! One time Lickety Split dumped her on me when I was making a homecooked meal for my boyfriend Slugger and the brat shoved the cherry pie I made for his birthday in his face. Slugger almost broke up with me over that mess!

I've tried to talk to Lickety about her daughter's behavior, but she's always "Oh, I'm too busy with my work! She's just a baby, she'll grow out of it!" This brat is out of control, and I swear if she were my daughter, I'd- urgh! Baby Lickety Split had better not cause a scene at this years Spring Festival, or I'll really give her what for. Spike is the only one around here trying to reach out her her, but her only response is to kick him around and abuse him even more than she does her fellow ponies. I wish that poor little dragon would give up, and stop being her punching bag.

She keeps whining and crying about how everybody here mistreats her, and keeps threatening to run away if she doesn't get what she wants. You know what? Go ahead and run away, you self-centered little foal. Run to the witches in the volcano of Gloom, or to the goblin tunnels, and see what's it's like to _really_ be mistreated. My voice was once so sweet I was asked to sing in the Ponyland choir, but now it's as harsh as an old nag's from all of my yelling at her. My nerves are so shot from dealing with that brat, that Dr. Medcin is telling me my blood pressure is up to the point I could have a nervous breakdown. That filly has made my life a living hades, and the farther away she is, the better I like it. But why does it have to be this way? Why can't this little monster control herself.

Oh, Baby Lickety Split, why do you have to be so _Selfish_?

*_Firehooves Note; For those outside Dream Valley who may not know what Buttons was taking about, the Lullabye Nursery is a playhouse we Stallions built for the baby ponies standing adjacent to Dream Castle. If you are ever visiting the castle, it's the little house that looks like it's made out of building blocks with a big hairbow on top sitting right next door._


	7. Chapter 7

**_Corrpespondence of Masquerade the Changeling_**

_Memoirs of a Changeling _

Hello, all of you good readers. No, this is not Tornado, though I am well aware of every word the historian pony has written to all of you. I also know everything that goes on this castle. I know Cheerilee will be ending her cl;ass for the day in fifteen minutes, I know Buttons and Slugger will be sitting down to thier early supper in ten. I know Wind Whistler is going over mathmatical equations in the basement, while Moondancer is in the ballroom, giving a speech to a small group of mother ponies about how it is immoral for the bushwoolies to go around the castle without any clothes on. I know Posey and Applejack are arguing with Cherries Jubilee about this season's harvest out in the garden, and Twilight and Gypsy are in Galaxy's Planetarium in the northwest tower, forcasting this year's star chart to find an aspicious day for the wedding of Queen Majesty's eldest Daughter. And how do I know all of this? You don't want to know.

My agents and I, we take so many shapes. Disguise and espionage are our lot in life, rooting out the secrets of other to use to our queen's avantage. A corrupt business mare in Bright Valley, a greedy Gnome whose cheating his diamond dog partners out of thier gemstones in a mining operation. Wonderful tidbits of information that keeps Dream Valley ahead of the curve- information that is perfect for our queen to use for blackmail, should the need arise. Disguise is one of the great powers of our changeling race, and one we employ without the drawbacks of the rest of our species. That silmy drek we must consume to supress our craving of love and give us a natural pony form may taste horrible, but it is worth it to not be dependent of sucking emotions away from our fellow ponies.

The rest of our kind... once a mighty empire, they are now nothing but a pitiful group of scattered fringers, scraping by with ethier what little love they can drain here and there, or working as spies and sabotouers for the other races. One of our kinsmen works for the feline witch Katrina, taking the form of a Lizard, and trying to get as much love from her as he can. Pathetic whelp, I thank the Horsemaster Oueen Majesty keeps our clan out of such degreading behaviour to survive. It is for that reason we are unquestiongly loyal to our beloved queen, ready to live and die at her command. Perhaps it is also leftover hive instict that makes it so we must serve our queen, I cannot say for sure.

What I am certain of, is that my queen is having me look into the matter of Tornado, at the moment. Rumors have sufaced of a human lineage behind Twilight dear stallion, and my Queen wishes the truth discovered. While Tornado will not be penalized in any way should such information turn out to be true, it is still a secret my queen wishes uncovered, and I do not intend to fail her. I already suffered for my disgraceful folly once- a time I was invertigating a pack of goblins sneaking into Dream Valley, and got my eyes put out for my troubles. I shall not make such a mistake again. Tornado, though you will never read this, I will be watching you...

Masquerade Shadowvelle

Dream Castle Intellegence

...

_Communication from the archives, from over ten years ago, immediately following the incident that led to princess Cadence's death..._

From; Queen Majesty, ruler of Dream Valley

To; Maquerade, head of Dream Castle intelligence

As unhappy as I am with the outcome of recent events that occured at the royal paradise, I am most pleased with the unexpected development that Dream Castle will become home to the Six harmony bearers that the Princesses have rejected. That being said, I am most intriguied by the propechy your spies uncovered from Hydia's nderlings, regarding this 'girl from the human world. My courtiers have debriefed Firefly, and currently believe that this human woman that she enuountered on the other side of the rainbow may be the mother of said chosen one. This is been confirmed by obsevations of the woman's family by North Star and Whizzer, which I ordered after this information first came to light.

Further observation reveals that this woman has a baby daughter, by the name of Megan, whom I believe will grow up to be the child spoken of by the prophecy. Sadly, I believe that if we were to uncover this information, Hydia or Tirek will be able to uncover it, as well. Therefore, I would ask you to send one of your Chengelings to go and live in the other world, and keep an eye on this child and protect her until she grows up. Your agent should be an expert at long term missions among humans, and must appear as an ordinary, unintelligent earth pony, that will serve as a companion to Megan as she grows up. But do not bother choosing the agent who will carry out this task, for I have already selected from among your best infiltrators.

I chose the changeling Teejay, your second in command. He will serve as our secret emissary to the child chosen by prophecy, and protect her until the day fate decrees she is to discover Ponyland. Our servant Masquerade, let this order be carried out without delay.

Queen Majesty

Mistress of Dream Castle

...


	8. Chapter 8

_**More Historical Excerpts**_

_This first three excerpts comes from the diary of First Base, an ancestor of Dream Valley's own big brother Pony, Slugger. The final one comes from his girlfriend, Bouncy. An account from four decades before the Grogar wars, I think it illustrates how we stallions have ended up the way we are at the present._

5th day of Summer;

Can you believe it, diary? Summer's finally here! My buddy Tug and I finally took some time off to hitthe beach today, and whoo-wee did we meet some fine Manehatten fillies! Tug trotted up to this cute little purple unicorn named Beach Ball, and I actually struck up a conversation with her best briend, Bouncy! This sweet little Pegasus has the cutest beach ball mark on her flank, and has the sweetest laugh when she whinnies! We got the two to agree to come with us to Luna park, and we had sooo much fun on the coasters! Tug hung onto Beach Ball the whole time through the laff in the dark, and I cheered Bouncy on when she scored five hundred points at the party canon shooting gallery! Tug and I talked about how cute they were after the date, and we can't wait to see them again. I want to take them bowling, Bouncy seems to be really good at sports and stuff, Things are gonna be so much awesomer from now on!

15th day of summer;

Diary, something is wrong! Tug has been sinppy and cranky all this past week, when today at the park he suddenly lost control! Beach Ball won him a prize in the levitation ring toss, but the crinival pony told her then she could only have a small prize, as unicorn magic gave her an unfair adventage. Tug was furious! He leapt over the stand, kicked the poor carinval colt down, and demanded that he give Beach Bll the prize she deserved. Bouncy and I watched with horror as the frightened dealer handed over the biggest stuffed griffion at the booth, and trotted of with it in his teeth. Diary, Tug is the gentlest and most laid back stakkion I know! What could possibly have convinced him to act like a savage? Why would he possibly feel the need to behave like an utter an absolute animal?

Excuse me, diary... my head's been hurting recently... I'd better go lie down... everything's getting so _fuzzy..._

29th day of summer;

BAH! Foolish females! Can they not see those foolish donkeys insulted us? They deserved to have sand kicked in thier faces, they made fun of us for having cutie marks! Anypony who insults us or pushes us around is gonna get it, and that includes other ponies who act stupid! The girls are sobbing, telling us they can't stand us acting like this. I say it's time we manned up, and started acting like the stallions we are! We stil love em' lots, but we both wish we could run far, far away... race around the world in an endless run, only coming back when we needed to... ahh, to be free...

Excuse me diary,but I think that griffion is trying to take Bouncy's ice cream! HOW DARE HE!?

_Bouncy's Diary;_

30th of Summer;

Ugghhhh, diary! This is soooo infuriating! Beach Ball and I's boyfriends have gone totally mean! First Base used to be the nicest and sweetest colt I've ever known! Over the past few weeks we've shared ice cream, flown kites together, and he even heped me do my mane! Now all her does is snorts and snarls, biting and trampling anything that even seems to treaten him. Like, what is so totally _wrong_ with that stallion? I can't believe this is the same sweety pony I started dating! Poor Beach Ball is about ready to have a nervous breakdownn, after Tug chased and Bit her mailpony! I don't know how long these two are going to hold down thier jobs at the ballpark and the dock! How long before Tug tosses his captian overboard? Or First Base beats the umpire up for calling a bad play? I don't know what we'll do f we have to support these two on our lifeguard saleries!

I don't know Diary... I've been hearing from the other mares and fillies that this has been happening all over manehatten... I really hope it's not a disease or seomthing, guys turning into cave ponies. At least they still listen to us when we talk. In fact, it's kind of wierd... it's almost like they are 'obeying' us when we tell 'em to chill out. Could you imagine that, diary? A world run by mares where the stallions are all our obiedent fighting pets! What a silly idea! Ah well, I'd better go get ready for work. Here's hoping First Base gets over whatever's bothering him soon...

... Like, totally!

...did I just write that?

_ And thus it went, though the degeneration of colts took serveral generation before the population at large noticed. But judging from Bouncy's diary excerpt above, I'm starting to wonder if whatever cursed stallionkind so long ago, didn't affect more than just ponykind's males..._

_.._

_excerpt 2: Los Pegasus and the Flutter Ponies;_

_This account was brought to me by Lady Tropical Breeze, a Flutter Pony who has the racial memeory of her ancestor who was in the army of an earlier Queen Rosedust. This is the story of how the Flutter Ponies liberated the city of Los Pegasus, and found a home of thier own._

"Los Pegasus.. it was a sleazy den of pony vice and sin. The colorful city of lights and billboards rang with the sounds of slot machines and cheers from dice tables. Mares clad in fishnets, unitards, and bunny ears served stallions glasses of hard cider, as they whittled away thier hard-earned saleries on worthless games of chance, instead of putting food in the mouths of thier wives and foals. Ponykind might have put this kind of wickedness behind it in this dark age, but in the time of Equestria's final days this enterprise thirved in a decaying society.

For many centuries after our race's creation, we Flutter Ponies had lived in hiding in the Applewood hills, secreting ourselves away from ponykind, and silently nursing a grudge against the ponies who betrayed us. Our herd longed for a home where we could live in peace, and put our stolen sunstone to use. Our oppournity finally came with the advent of the Grogar wars, when an old enemy invaded the nearest city to our hiding place.

The changlings had descended like locusts, ransacking the city of Los Pegasus. The great casinos were trashed, the storefronts wrecked, homes pillaged and burned to the ground. The ponies who once called this great city home were rounded up and put in pens, treated like cattle that the changelings could feed, breed, and feed off of like livestock on an earth ponies farm. Reaping the benefits of thier part in the manevolent alliance, Grogar permitted Queen Chrystalis and her Swarm to rule the city with an iron hoof for ten months, bringing untold suffering upon the inhabitants on the great maretropolis.

Then, like an angel from the heavens, our great queen Rosedust descended with her flutter pony army from the Applewood mountians. Our glorious forces engaged the changeling horde, slamming the foul shape shifters with wave after wave of utter flutters. The battle was fierce, with many lives lost on both sides, but the tide slowly turned against our adversaries. They could not feed off our rage and anger, for even we, with our cold and distrustful nature, were enraged by how the captors had treated the captive. Finally, Our Rosedust Faced down the dark Chrysalis, and a great battle porceeded between the Queen of the Flutter Ponies and the Queen of the chagelings. Energy blasts and pollen wing gusts were exchanged for over an hour. But a well-placed blast from our queen finally brought the tyrant Down. "We are at your mercy." The Chageling Queen told Rosedust bitterly. ""Do with us as you see fit."

And so our Queen did so. Realizing this race of parasites served no purpose in the natural order of this world but to feed off healthy creatures love and make them sick, (as parasites are wont to do) our great queen ordered our armes to clease Los Pegasus of this disguting monsters. Every captured Changeling was brutally trampled to death, and thier queen beheaded by the glittery wings of Rosedust herelf. Few of that miserable race survived that day, and that pitiful handful were scattered to the wind, without the comforts of a queen or hive. Thier descendants now live as mangy beggars and scavengers, feeding on what little love they can get from servitude to the other races.

After liberating the ponies of Las Pegusus, our queen offered them a place as out servants, living in our new capital. "Better to live under the yoke of Flutter ponies as slaves." One declared. "That to be kept as changeling livestock." And so, under our great queen's orders, the pony city of sin was demolished, and in it's place rose a tropical paradise, heated by our sunstone. Here we flutter ponies dwell in our treehouses in harmony with our natural surroundings... having built our beautiful, flower-garden filled capital on the ashes of pony greed and lust for bits.

_And that's how the Flutter kingdom was established..._

_Tornado Firehooves_

_Dream Castle Historian_

...


	9. Chapter 9

_**Zoropothiesists and the Alicorns**_

_In regards to Zoropontyism and the horsemaster, of which many of you haveheard me speak of in my histories. Keep on mind I wrote this a long time ago, when I was a younger, and more misguidedly zealous- unicorn;_

Zoripontism is the official philosophy of Modern ponyland, embraced by nearly all of the equine population. It teaches balance in approaches to all aspects of a pony's life, as dercreed by the great Horsemaster, the creator of all ponykind. In contrast to the love and tolerance creed once embarced by Equestrian ponies, Zoroponyism teaches love for one's friends can temper the hate for one's enimies, therby ceating a mix of the two emotions that the windigoes cannot feed off of.

Belief in the Great Horsemaster can be traced to the earlier reilgion of horsemasterism, whose origins are unkown, but whose existance was first recorded by starswirl the bearded. Horsemasterism was always a minority faith in Equestria, never rising above 3% of the population, and eternally living in the shadow of the Alicorn worship of the rest of Ponykind. Horsemasterism was, of course, tolerated- as was the Equestrian way. But there is evidence that it's practitioners were held in contempt by the Alicornites.

All of this changed, however, with the death of the Princess Celestia. They ponies had just watched thier immortal goddess fall, in an all too mortal fashion. Into this faith-shattering chaos, stepped a Unicorn prophet named Zoriponta- who taught a modified version of Horsemasterism, that was more Philosopy than faith. It explianed all of equestria's troubles as ponkind having fallen out of balance. They must abadon the greedy, materialistic society of Equestria, it taught, and return to the comuunal life of the herd. It a time of strife and chaos, this philosophy appealed to a troubled Ponykind, and Zoriponta's message spread like wildfire. By the time the Grogar wars ended, 98% of Ponykind had embraced the new philosophy.

Zoripontism teaches the great Horsemaster- a trinty consisting of B'zkre the unicorn, Angel Pony the Pegasus, and Pretty the earth pony( the sea and flutter ponies also believe in a fourth and fifthincarnation, based on thier respective races)- created the first six mares; Cotton Candy, Blue Belle, Butterscotch, Minty, Snuzzle, and Blossom, and gave them the power of intelligence and speech. Seeing how lonely they were, the Horsemaster created the first six stallions, therby bringing the Pony race into balance. It is the duty of all ponies to emulate the great Horsemaster, by bringing balance to all of the herd- though loyalty to one's family, community, and proper vassal loyalty to one's feudal lady. Mares are to be the guides and leaders of ponykind, whilst Stallions are to be the defenders- and the divine and swift sword of Ponyland, extracting brutal justice on ponykind's foes, but only when it is needed.

Evil and strife, the enimes of pony kind, come from Tirac- the great bringer of Darknesswho betrayed the horsemaster, and was sealed behind the gates of Tartarus (The centaur socerer tirek was one of his servents/vessesls) To combat this evil, the horsemaster sent her great messengers, the alicorns, to reassure and guide ponykind in thier times of need. But ponykind misunderstood the message, and began to worship the alicorn guides as goddesses. Oh, the folly of ponykind!

As to friendship, Zoroponta teaches this is a trait reserved for one's clan, herd, and allies. To one's enimies, those who attack and harm your clan and herd, is given the swift and just penalty of death- not delivered in anger, but disspassionately, lest the windigoes taste the fires of hatred, and freeze Ponyland over in one long, ice-cold blizzard. Dream Valley, a kingdom of Anti-alicorn outcasts, had turned horsemasterist at the point of it's founding, so natually they would take the message of Zorypontha to heart. Thier great catherdral is filled to the brim with the faithful on a weekly basis. And it was Dream Valley, who at the request of the Princess Theodora, who sent the legion of Troops who put down the great alicorn uprising that followed the Grogar wars.

Today, Zoropontism is the basis and foundation of ponkind's society- Oaths are sworn in the Horsemaster's name, marriages are conducted under the horsemaster's auspices. The alicorn sister are rembered as unwitting agents of the Horsemaster's mission of Balance, but seen as goddesses no longer. Those pitiful few ponies who rever the alicorns as godesses still are tolerated as deluded, childishly innocent ponies, and are refered to as 'Ponygans'. The 97% of the majority of ponykind, however, follow the way, of Zoriponta. It is a philospophy that has served Ponykind well since the fall of Equestria, and will continue to do so for many ages to come.

Tornado Firehooves,

Dream Castle Historian

...

Hello, good readers, Paradise here. It has come to my attention that many of Tornado's readers, no part in thanks to a certain unipeg-detesting wife of his always whispering in his ear- may have given you the wrong impression about the rare and exceptionally magical type of Pony commonly referred to as an Alicorn. Often maligned and potrayed as misguided and power-hungry false gods in modern Ponyland fiction, I believe it's time to set the record straight on this poorly understood ponies.

Alicorns, also known as Pegasus unicorns, unipegs, or Pegacorns in diffrent cultures, are ponies who have the attributes of all three of the main types of equines. Ususally born when a pony reaches a state of enlightenment through an absolute understanding of a particular aspect of thier special talent, it is not unlike the human concept of attaining buddahood. Alicorns are a symbol of hope and promise to the other types of ponies and many kingdoms throughout history have made them thier rulers out of repect of this fact. Pricess Celestia, Princess Luna, Princess Cadence, and even Twilight Sparkle are only a few of the ninteen known ponies to ascend over the course of equine history.

Alicorns have a level of magic few sentient beings in this world can achieve- even mighty unicorn mages such as Starswirl the Bearded, Mimic of Dream valley, Clover the Clever or even our own beloved Queen Majesty cannot even begin to approach the level of power of one of the great winged unicorns. Raising and lowering the sun and moon, affecting the emotions of the ponies around them on a fundemental level- these ae things only an alicorn could achieve on thier own. They are also gifted with extreme longevity, so much so that the ponies of old revered them as dieties.

Sadly, these fortunate few enlightened were proven to be all too mortal ponies. Despite the fact of thier tremendous power, they can be deafeated by a sufficently powerful enough opponent- such as a changeling hive queen fully charged on love, or a draconequiss , or a demonic goat lord- and there are a few artifacts that even alicorn power pales in comparison to, like the elements of Harmony, or the rainbow of light, or the golden crown. Alicorns can be slain, and in the wake of such a death the ponies who follow them are often left in a state of despair and uncertainty.

Nevertheless, this does not dimish thier contribiutions to pony society and history, and a lack of divinity on thier part is no reason not to honor these brave mares as the heoes to pony history they have allways been. If only certain my fellow horsemasterists could see through thier personal biases, and accept that these ponies were not the monsters they imagine them to be. Almost all of Ponyland reveres these winged wonders, despite being monotheists, why can a few close minded ponies do the same?

Paradise Oasis

Dream Castle librarian


	10. Chapter 10

**_Ponyland Guide and timeline_**

Dear Readers;

For those of you who may not understand Ponyland, here is a guide of our fair country in human terms... starting with the Ponyland herds;

Hoofkaido: Oriental community, resembles the culture of Japan (and to lesser extent, China) Torri gates, Shysha dog statues, and pagodas. Warrior-based society, ruled by the Daimyos of the mare-triarchal clans. Primary export is oriental foods, spices, porcelain and silk. City shares a friendly rivalry with Fort Dash. Ruled by the heridetary shogun. Extremely obsessed with elegance an sophisticaion.

Misty Mountian: German/Swiss-style chalets, known for it's senic mountians, skiing, and yodeling stallions. Aristocratic familes controlled by powerful yunkers. Upper class are desceded from Crystal pony refugees who stayed with Cadnence after the empire was destroyed, while lower classes are normal ponies of the three main types. Princess Cadence rules as an autocrat, though is still awnserable to the council of Princess Ponies.

Bright Valley: Resembles a Modern American city, 98 % earth ponies. Exports technology to the rest of Ponyland. Population is work obessed, and most materialistic of the herds. A large battery of cannons in the northern cliffs protects the city from non-pony attack. Only city to still use currency, and is controlled by it's powerful guilds. Ruler is a princess from a unicorn bloodline, and tries to hold the fires of industry in check.

Fort Rainbow Dash: Greco-Roman city resembling Athens. It is home to philosophy, art, and the most organized and regimented military in Ponyland. Mertiocracy based on merit and individual worth-it is the only city where it's leader, the margrave, is elected. The Acherons, rulers of the powerful pony Partician familes do manage to control key seats in the city's senate, however. Exports fine statuary, paintings, and philosopical treatieses- all of which are in high demand throughout ponyland.

Royal Paradise: Captial of Ponyland, a single, massive castle. Whole city-castle is based around politics and the breauacracy, place where the leaders of the Ponyland herds meet for political matters. Surrounded by the jewel sea, is the most protected community in the confederacy. Six Princess ponies take turns ruling as the queen of Ponyland, one ruling for two months out of the year before passing the crown on to the next.

Ponyland's independant pony herds;

Flutter Valley: Tropical home of Flutter ponies, polynesian-esque culture. Treetop houses, and brick roadways leading through the jungle. Extremely isolated. Population mostly Flutter Ponies, distrustful of outsiders until they prove themselves. While not as Xenophobic as thier ancestors (with a few psycotic exceptions), they still believe Flutter ponies sould not get involved in the affairs of the other herds. Apodian tribe maintains the gardens and flora of the valley, while changeling slaves (distantly related to the flutter ponies, ancestors conquered by the flutters) perform labor for the flutter ponies. Ruled by Queen Rosedust, who is advised by an elected council.

The Northern Wastes: Home to the snow pony tribes, inuit culture. Frozen ice and frequent bizzards, is the most dangerous place to visit in all of Ponyland. As a result, Snow Pony tribes, descendants of the crystal pony majority who did not flee with Cadence, are extremely hospitable to any ponies who brave the hellish conditions of thier lands. Tribes are each ruled by a hereditary chief, who awnsers to the tribal high chief, elected from among thier number every 20 years. Hostiliy is only shown to Cadence, and thier southern Cousins who live the life of comparitive ease in Misty Mountian citadel.

Dream Valley: Outcast Kingdom whose inhibitants desceded from Exlies, all dwell within the spacious pocket Dimension within dream castle. Culture is medival european, heavily influenced by thier human allies in nearby manehatten. A warlike, meat eating population, the Dream Valley ponies are held in contempt by the other herds, who see them as humans insteand of ponies. (The Dream Valley ponies take this as a compliment) Dream Castle's long line of Queens have ruled with the aid of an elected privy council, and have a reputation of being the fairest and most benenvolent rulers in Ponyland.

That is all for now. Next time, the other races and thier communties!

Tornado Firehooves

Dream Castle historian

...

There may be those confused by the passage of time and flow of events in these archives. Therefore, I have constructed this timeline of events, so that the reader may more clearly understand that which he is reading. The date system (BR- Before Release, AR- After Release) coincides with Princess Luna's purification, as this event led to the creation of the pony society we know today. If you do not seek clarity on the sequence of events, you may wish to skip this text. I hope this guide will be of some use to you, and may the great horsemaster watch over you all.

Tornado Firehooves,

Royal court Scholar to Queen Majesty

5,000 B.R.- According to our traditions, the world was created by the great horsemaster. He created a rainbow bridge, which all of the races of this world crossed over from the human world. This legend cannot be confirmed, however.

4,500 B.R.- All of what will one day become Equestria is underwater, under the rule of the Eldritch abomination Squirk. The power of the flashtone gives him absolute authority over all sea life.

4,000 B.R.- Arrival of the Penna birds into the future Equestria, who use powerful magic to drain the oceans away. The Penna defeat Squirk, and banish him to the darkest depths of the Ocean. Dawn of the Penna civilization, who will control this land for ten centuries.

3,774 B.R.- The Penna Invite the ancestors of Ponykind to settle within the borders of their lands. Beginning of the Paleopony period.

3,770 B.R.- The First Unicorn arrives in the future Equestria, and is given the powerful artifacts the golden horseshoes by the Penna, as an arrival gift. While she is visiting another land, a powerful tornado sucks her up, and scatters the four horseshoes to the lands far beyond.

3,563 B.R.- The first attack of the disease that would come to be known as Cutie Pox strikes ponykind. The Penna are unable to find a cure, although the disease vanishes on it's own.

3,010 B.R.- A Penna mage accidentally creates a living embodiment of Chaos, which will be come to be known as Discord.

3,000 B.R.- Discord rebels against it's creators, chasing the Penna from their homeland. Ponykind, lost without their bird caretakers, flee the Penna territories for the lands to the south. Beginning of the Pre-classical period.

2999 B.R.- Pony mages discover the weather and cycles of Nature can no longer operate on their own, due to the lingering effects of discord's chaos. Ponykind must now take over the running of nature. The Unicorns take over duties for raising the sun and the moon, while Pegasus take stewardship of the weather, and the earth ponies begin to raise the crops.

2,990 B.R.-The fracturing of the Tribes. Pegasus, Unicorns, and earth ponies split into three seperate kingdoms, but maintain friendly relations.

2,890 B.R.- A love poision causes the rulers of the earth and unicorn kingdoms to fall in love, to the point they cannot fufil thier duties. The two kingdoms nearly collapse during a Dragon attack, and each kind of pony blames the other for the disaster.

2,890 B.R.- The unicorn kingdom recovers, but the earth pony kingdom reorganizes itself into a republic, led by a chancellor. In the hostility between the two kingdoms, the Pegsus monarchy is overthrown, and it is turned into a military dictatorship.

As a result of the love potion disaster, the three kinds of Ponies become hostile towards each other, but maintain chilly relations to keep nature running. Earth Ponies partially oppressed by the Unicorns and Pegasus.

2,542 B.R.- Starswirl the Bearded studies the magic scrolls left behind by the Penna, creates more than 200 spells.

2,516 B.R.- A huge Blizzard created by the Windigoes forces the three tribes to reconcile in order to survive. Migrating back to the Penna Lands, they found the Kingdom of Equestria.

2,400 B.R.- Many greedy unicorns get lost in the caverns below Canterlot mountian, while searching for gemstones. With no friendship, love or affection and a lack of food, these lost ponies gradually begin to mutate over the generations, psychically developing a way to feed off of love.

2,220 B.R.- Changelings, descendants of the trapped unicorn prospectors, explode back into Equestria when a mining operation penetrates their caves. The Equestrian military drives them out of the kingdom.

2,100 B.R.- Sensing the threat of ponykind's harmony, Discord returns after a long absence, enslaving Ponykind. All records of the Penna are carefully destroyed by Discord.

2,070 B.R.- Birth of Celestia, the Alicorn. Ponykind is amazed by this genetic anomaly. Pony mages theorize it is due to Discord's chaotic energies affecting the very fabric of nature itself.

2,050 B.R.- Birth of the Second Alicorn, Luna. The two are reared in secret by unicorn mages, seeking to start a revolt against discord, and are raised to bring the tyrant down.

2,000 B.R.- The tyrant Discord is defeated by the Alicorn sisters, Celestia and Luna. Using the elements of Harmony, they seal the draqconiuis in stone. Out of gratitude for liberating them, Ponykind makes the princesses co-rulers of Equestria. Dawn of the Classical era.

1,998 B.R.- Construction of Old Canterlot begins. Unbeknownst to the Unicorn sisters, their castle is constructed on land near the burial site of the flashtone.

1,995 B.R.- King Sombra, a corrputed unicorn outcast from Equestria, enslaves the Crystal Empire to the north of Equestria.

1,001 B.R.- The royal alicorn sisters combine thier power to defeat King Sombra, liberating the Crystal Empire from his rule. Sombra is changed into a dark cloud, and banished beneath the ice and snow.

1,000 B.R.- Princes Luna, under the influences of the buried and forgotten flashstone, grows jealous of her sister, and becomes the wicked nightmare moon. Celestia, faced with the threat of an eternal night, uses the elements of Harmony to seal away her sister inside the moon. End of the classical era.

998 B.R.- Under the effects of a curse by King Sombra, The Crystal Empire vanishes for a thousand years.

988 B.R.- Old Canterlot (which will come to be called the palace of the two sisters) is abandoned and forgotten. Celestia moves her court to the newly-constructed new Canterlot. Dawn of what modern pony scholars call the Equestrian age.

500 B.R.- Town of Ponyville founded by earth ponies, winter wrap-up tradition is established.

200 B.R.- first Ponyville settlement abandoned, after too many timberwolf attacks on the town.

75 B.R.- Abandoned ghost town of Ponyville re-established, thanks to the efforts of the Smith and Apple Famlies. The winter wrap-up tradition is re-established.

20 B.R.- Birth of Rarity in Ponyville, Birth of Fluttershy in Cloudsdale

19 B.R.- , Birth of Applejack in Ponyville, Birth of Pinkie Pie in Ponyville

18 B.R.- Birth of Twilight Sparkle in Canterlot, Birth of Rainbow Dash in Cloudsdale

12 B.R.- First Sonic Rainboom in a millennium recorded by Pony historians.

10 B.R.- Pricess Celestia's student, Sunset Shimmer, rejects her teacher, and begins to cause trouble. Defeated by Celestia, she flees into a magic mirror prision, were she is contained for several years.

7 B.R.- Midnight Hooves arrives in Ponyville.

6 B.R.- Midnight digs up the flashtone, and is corrupted by it's dark power.

5 B.R.- Midnight recalled from Ponyville.

2 B.R.- Daring Do's journal recovered by pony novelist, published as a series of bestseller books.

0 A.R.- Escape of Nightmare Moon, the Harmony Bearers find the elements of harmony. Nightmare Moon is purified into Princess Luna.

1 A.R.- Discord is freed from his stone prison, is defeated and re-sealed by the harmony bearers. Priness Luna makes a series of Speeches all across Equestria.

Wedding of Princess Cadence, ruler of the Crystal Ponies, to Shining Armor, brother of Twilight Sparkle. A changeling invasion of Canterlot is thwarted.

2 A.R. - Luna recruits Midnight, begins the 'Dream Valley' project. Luna's experiments at the Tambleon laboratory begin.

Twilight Sparkle and the other Harmony bearers save the Crystal Empire from destruction.

4 A.R.- Sky Runner creates the rainbow of light.

The Equestria games are held in the Crystal Empire for the first time.

The Tambleon incident occurs, The city vanishes into the dark dimension.

Construction of Dream Castle, on the Ruins of the Palace of the two Sisters, begins.

Applejack becomes immortal.

Midnight returns home.

The artificially created Sea Ponies, Flutter Ponies, and Jewel-eyed ponies escape laboratory confinement after the fall of Tambleon, but agree to Confine themselves to Dream Valley. Their numbers will increase over the next several centuries.

Dream Castle, rebuilt from the Ruins of the Palace of the two Sisters, is completed. Luna gives it as a gift to Princess Rosalyn, Sister of Prince Blueblood. It is from this bloodline that the royal line of Dream Valley, including our own Queen Majesty VIII, will Descend.

5 A.R. - Midnight becomes the dark lord Tirek, flees Ponyville with the rainbow of darkness.

Twilight Sparkle becomes an alicorn. Sunset Shimmer attempts to steal her harmony crown, but is banished back into her mirror prision.

10 A.R.- Cheerilee, Ponyville's teacher, vanishes under mysterious circumstances.

30 A.R.- Feeling oppressed by the unicorns and Pegasus, Earth pony settlers begin migrating to the old country ponies had come from before coming to equestria, form the settlement of Pioneer Point.

97 A.R.- Applejack is no longer able to explain her perpetual youth, quietly leaves Ponyville.

100 A.R.- Death of the Last Harmony Bearer, Rarity. Diamond Tiara begins the Ponyville reconstruction project. Spike the Dragon goes into a deep hibernation.

120 A.R.- Ponyville Amusement Park opens. Unicorn mages cover Ponyville in a protective magical 'Cloud Wall' barrier that cuts it off from the rest of Equestria, except through the amusement park entrance.

150 A.R.- The earth pony settlers along the eastern coast of the old lands, declare thier independence from Equestria, becoming the Ponyland Republic

160-200 A.R.- At unspecified dates, the ancestors of the Six princess ponies of Ponyland are born to Celestia and Luna.

202 A.R.- Ponyville Amusement Park closes.

205 A.R.- Ponyville Region quarantined from the rest of Equestria, due to health Authorities claiming a magically created 'stupidity plague' has reduced most of Ponyville's population to childlike idiots. The three tribes in this now- isolated region quickly lose contact with one another.

250 A.R.- Celestia and Luna go to the town of Coltonville in disguise, secretly attending the local high school.

275 A.R- Earth Pony Town of Coltonville has a mysterious attack on two of its Mares, Bright Eyes and Clover, who are found dead and drained to extreme old age.

280 A.R.- Queen Sky Skimmer of Dream Valley kills the tree of harmony, starting the downward spiral to the dark age.

300 A.R.- Discord escapes from his prison once more. Princess Celestia battles him, sacrifices herself to kill Discord. Luna now left the sole ruler of Equestria.

305 A.R.- With Discord truly destroyed, Nature in Equestria finally begins to operate on it's own again. Ponies now left with less responsibility, internal decay of Equestrian society begins.

315 A. R.- Attacks on equestria from beyond it's borders begins, but most invaders are easily repulsed.

335 A.R- Luna has the elements of Harmony forged into a large gemstone, the heart of Equestria (later called the heart of Ponyland) with six wands that each of the next harmony bearers will use to channel the Elements' power.

349 A.R.- Contact between the Unicorns, Pegasus, and earth Ponies of the Ponyville region re-established. Contact with the rest of Equestria still cut off.

369 A.R.- Spike awakens in Ponyville, after a three-century slumber

372 A.R.- Princess Luna orders the construction of the Royal Paradise, a fallback capital in case New Canterlot falls. She has the heart of Equestria Gemstone placed in the caverns deep below the Palace.

373 A.R.- Fall of the Ponyland republic, survivors relocated to Equestria, where they found the fortress-city of Bright Valley.

Magical cloud Barrier over Ponyville destroyed, Ponyville Contact with the rest of Equestria re-established.

375 A.R.- Two Ponyville Mares, Toola Roola and Starsong, are found drained in a manner similar to the Coltonville attack a century earlier.

430 A.R.- The Dark Lord Tirek returns, supported by a goblin army. Luna's armies fight back, but many lives are lost. Ponyville is attacked, and Spike the Dragon taken prisioner, believed dead by the rest of Equestria.

431 A.R.- Tirek and Luna arrive at a truce, with each side unable to beat the other. Equestria is left in shambles, with nearly half of it's population dead.

442 A.R.- With Equestria militarily weakened, Princess Luna is forced to abandon all of the settlements on the western frontier. The Buffalo tribes reclaim their homelands, driving out the pioneer ponies.

453 A.R.- With an increase in Troll raids from beyond Eqestria's borders, Equestrian towns and cities begin to fortify themselves.

468 A.R.- An assualt by the Lava Demons destroys the Crystal kingdom, forcing the survivors to flee into the mountuans, where thier descendants will become the snow ponies. Princess Cadence given the newly constructed Misty Mountian fortress to rule by Princess Luna.

472 A.R.- Zoroponyisim, a new philosophy preached by the Unicorn prophet Zarthpontha, begins to spread devotion to the great Horsemaster, over devotion to the two sisters. As the new doctrine calls for a secondary devotion to Luna, she does little to stop it's spread.

503 A.R.- Alliance between the changelings, Goblins, Diamond Dogs, and Lava Demons to destroy equestria. The Grogar wars begin.

Tambleon returns from the Dark dimension. Grogar's Trollogs attack the already-Weakened Equestria, and destroy Manehatten and Fillydelphia.

504 A.R.- The Changelings take Los Pegasus, and Enslave the local population. The flutter ponies emerge from hiding in the Applewood hills, and attack the Changelings. The Flutter ponies are victorious, slayling queen Chrysalis. Los Pegasus claimed as Flutter capital.

As Grogar's armies ravage the countryside, all of the Pony towns and cities are abandoned. Ponyville's terrified inhabitants flee to Dream Castle, swearing eternal serfdom for themselves and their descendants to Princess Majesty I and her heirs, in exchange for protection.

505 A.R.- Fall of new Canterlot to Grogar's armies. Luna engages the Goat Tyrant in hoof-to-hoof combat. Luna's forces are driven back into the Royal Paradise.

When all seems lost, the combined armies of Equestria drive Grogar back into Tambleon, and the City vanishes back into the dark dimension. End of the Grogar Wars.

The army calls the surviving Equestrian nobility together, and officially hands power over to the council of Six Princess Ponies. Princess Luna vanishes from pony society, never to be heard from again. The Equestria age ends.

506 A.R.- The Princess Ponies decide not to rebuild the Canterlot ruins, and instead establish their court at the Royal paradise. Authority is handed over to the local nobility in each region.

Seeing the problems many kingdoms having different currencies could cause to trade, the pony nobility agrees to abolish currency, and use the barter system between kingdoms in Ponyland.

510 A.R.- Goblins, Ogres, Trolls, and other races pour into the fractured Equestria, carving out their own kingdoms. To help defend Ponykind, the nobility invites the elves and gnomes to settle in the kingdom as allies. In order to remind the new arrivals who really is in Charge, the Princess ponies officially change the name from Equestria to Ponyland.

512-570 A.R.- Fort Rainbow Dash and the other fortresses and castles become center of Pony society and culture. Ponykind never returns to the cities abandoned in Grogar's invasion, and instead develops a communal-manorial lifestyle, built more along the lines of the natural herd.

601 A.R.- Unicorn mages stumble across and re-activate the long-forgotten rainbow bridge, and Humans from Medieval Europe cross over to Ponyland. They establish their own kingdom near Dream Valley, becoming the Dream Valley ponies's closest allies.

625 A.R.- The Moochick, a gnome mage, is welcomed to settle in Dream Valley. The Ponies of Dream Valley will come to rely on him more and more, as their own magic diminishes.

978 A.R.- Birth of Twilight in Dream Castle

979 A.R.- Birth of Firefly at Fort Rainbow Dash, Birth of Glory in Dream Castle

980 A.R.- Birth of Medley at Fort Rainbow Dash, Birth of Bow Tie in Bright Valley

990 A.R.- Tirek, who has not been heard from in Ponyland in some time, takes over the human kingdom. He turns it's king, Scorpan, into a hideous beast.

995 AR- Princess Cadence attempts to re-fashion six fillies into new harmony bearers, but her results are mixed.

996 A.R.- Firefly and Medley move to Dream Castle.

Applejack, a wanderer believed to be descended from the element bearer, is welcomed into the Dream Valley community.

997 A.R.- Wind Whistler and North Star investigate the ruins of New Canterlot, and brought back new information on the ancient Equestrian civilization.

998 A.R.- Bright Valley's population turned into zombies. Bow Tie, the only survivor, flees to Dream Castle.

1000 A.R.- Queen Majesty leaves on a diplomatic visit to another kingdom, leaving Twilight in charge.

When Dream Valley is attacked by Tirek's forces, the Pony Firefly crosses the Rainbow bridge to the human world, and brings back a human girl, Megan. With the aid of the rainbow of light, given to them by the moochick, they defeated Tirek, and restore King Scorpan to his throne.

The Witch Katrina tries to enslave the Dream Valley Ponies, is defeated and stripped of her magic.

After the Smooze attack, several of the Dream Valley Ponies give up their Queen's castle, and move to Paradise estate.

1001 A.R.- Grogar returns, and tries to Conquer the dream valley Ponies. He is defeated, and banished back to the Dark Dimension.

Queen Majesty returns to find her castle having been given to the grundels, Is forced to pay 1/3 of her royal hoard to get them to leave.

1002 A.R.- The return of Tirek, sets Twilight and her friends on a new quest to save ponyland.

1003 A.R.- Cheerilee, a time-lost teacher from the Equestrian Era, reappears in Dream Valley


	11. Chapter 11

_Here is some entires from our friend Paradise, whovisited several diffent towns over the years for thier spring festivals. _

_Spring festival series- introduction_

Hello eveyone, Paradise here! For the First of My Ponyland culture series, I'll be tackling the Spring festival for the next six entries. For each entry, I'll be taking a look at this wonderful holiday which ponies of the confederacy use to mark the passage of winter to spring- to mark the rebirth of the warm weather, awakening from the figid slumber of the ice and snow. Once called winter wrap-up, this was a time we ponies were the stewards of nature, and brought about the changes in the seasons. But now, though we no longer assist nature by creating the weather, we ponies celebrate that we are a part of nature, and are greatful for the blessings it gives Ponyland, just as it blessed our foremothers in the days of Equestria.

But you must understand, that customs are diffrent in each and every one of the kingdoms across Ponyland- we each have our own unique way of passing the Spring festival that is unique to our own commuity. These diffrences, although bound together by a common belief in the meanings and theme of the day- are all like seperate choruses in a great song, enriching the whole in with thier deversity. For how boring of a dish would would it be if we all sang in the same bland tone and timber, intead of each brining our own unique flavor to the table? For that is what makes the confederacy so stong- we each add our own uniqueness to the great salad, instead of everything bleeing together in a yucky soup in a big, assimilating melting pot.

Oh, there is sooo much to choose from- which do you whish to hear about first? The kabuki and Bunraku performances of Hoofkaido uder the falling cheery blossom petals? Or maybe the _tragodia_ performed in the ampetheatres of Fort Rainbow Dash, where the toga-clad earth pony chorus sings _dithyrambs_ in praise of the beauty of a new spring? Or perhaps you wish to hear of the clanking of cider filled tankards and ponies dancing to the polka in Misty Mountian, where the bardic _skalds_ sing of the start of a new growing season? Please, tell this little white Pegasus what which you'd like to about first, and I'll be happy to oblige!

Entry 1- Hoofkaido

This time of year are always pleasant in this place, with the cherry blossoms coming off the trees, and spiraling down upon ponies like a gentle rain of lace. Nature puts on just as much of a shadow as the ponies do here, and the perfect hybrid of civilization and nature entertains the senses, and makes this festival a wondrous experience for all of the spectators present. For the city of Hoofkaido, this holiday is a time of renewal of the earth. And I can honestly say I have never felt as renewed as I did attending this remarkable event.

Having been given an invitation by the shogun of Hoofkaido, had invited me to attend the celebrations a few years past. Upon my arrival, I was quickly escorted away by two servants, who in a black kimono with a lovely gold floral pattern adorning the cloth, and put my mane up in two buns. Stepping out through the Torii gate that stretched over the entrance to Rarity park, I was greeted by Riri, a pink earth mare with a purple mane, who was all dressed up in an elegant white kimono all her own.

"Greetings, most honorable Lady Paradise." She bowed low before me, as I responded in kind. "I have been requested to guide you around the _Hanami matsuri_ (their word for this festival) today. Please, follow me."

And what a _matsuri_ it was! Stalls with colorful banners lined the park, with the vendors trading for delicious bento boxes filled with the yummiest of sweet noodle and rice dishes! There were delicious rice dumplings and _takoyaki_ to sample (Riri told me it was some kind of dough cooked with octopus- I think), We were also treated to a long parade with elaborate, flower themed floats- I think every Daimyo in Hoofkaido sponsored one, there were so many. Many stallion poets, dressed in colorful yukatas, read beautiful haiku they had written in honor of the cherry blossoms, comparing their fragility to the delicate nature of life itself. And in a pagoda tower overhead we heard a Pegasus stallion beating his wings against a large sideways drum- a practice, Riri tells me, to scare away the rain spirits so we may have a sunny festival.

Hoofkaido's population is greatly descended from oriental pony immigrant, who moved in and assimilated most of Balitamare's Equestrian population in the waning days of the old kingdom. They did not _destroy_ the society that was here. Rather, they have enriched it with their own unique cultural traditions. That's what makes this successor holiday to winter wrap-up all the more special!

As the day drifts on into the afternoon, most of the ponies present gather for the grand _Kabuki_ performance for this year's Spring festival. The plays are normally chosen at random from forty different prescribed plays, and my hostess tells me I am in for quite a treat this year. It's a classic piece, entitled "Lady Rarity vanquishes the cold and frigid winter". It's a fantasy piece, telling how the legendary harmony bearer Rarity, with the help of her dear Ponyville friends, helped bring a warm spring again to a village cursed by the windigoes. I loved the pale with makeup and colorful costumes worn by the mares and stallions performing, and having the characters strike a still pose to introduce them to the audience was a nice touch. Riri explained to me the types and colors of makeup indicated a character's personality, so I was confused why Rarity's actress had such odd red makeup with crazy lines.

The second performance was a puppet play, which my guide informed we was called _Bunraku_. I thought it was really interesting how these unicorn stagehands, dressed all in black, levitated these big and complex pony puppets that could trot, gallop, swish their tails, and even cry. I was enthralled as I listened to the narrator tell the tragedy, as the pony beside her played an odd- looking guitar (again, Riri informs me it is called a _shamisen_ It was a very sad love story, one that told of Princess Luna and a student she had taken on, long before Celestia's first pupil. This young unicorn bonded very closely with Luna, and she even developed some measure of pride for her student, and her sister Celestia developed a great affection for Sombra- and he for her. But his pride got the better of this Sombra, and he turned the magic to tyrannical ends as he fell to evil. The puppet performance tragically ends with Luna and her sister having to seal the betrayer away beneath the northern ice. I don't know if this tragic tales is true, but I can tell you my eyes were red with weeping after seeing the look of betrayal on puppet Sombra's face as the sisters froze him away in the cold.

As the festival drew on towards evening, I am shown the final interesting tradition of this magical event. As we all gathered near lake Baltimare, all the ponies present lit small paper lanterns, and set them adrift in tiny paper boats. These are wishes they have for the coming year, Riri tells me, dreams they have that they hope to fulfill before the next day celebrating the rebirth of the year. Writing my own personal hope on a small scroll of paper, I set it adrift in the waters, watching it drift out into the beautifully lit sea of stars before us- all the other boats carrying the desires of the ponies of hoofkaido floating all around it. And as this wonderful night comes to a close, I can only hope my wish for the reborn year will also come true.

Entry 2- Rainbow Falls, and the Wonderbolts

While I will be making commentary on the Spring Festival in all of the communities of Ponyland, I will often pause, and refect of some of the minor but wonderful locations here in Ponyland. I had the oppournity to view one of the most beautiful, the year following my visit to Hoofkaido. While I was on my way to the spring celebrations in Fort Rainbow Dash by train, I happenstanced to stop off at a little place called Rainbow Falls. This senic spot is on the rail line between Fort Dash and Dream Valley, and it seemed like a nice place to stop off and get lunch. Little did I know how chaming I would find this little hamlet.

Nestled on a plateau in the Misty Mountians, Rainbow Falls is a small isolated community high above most of the concerns and cares of Ponyland. Situated right beneath the great rainbow that streaches across the confederact and serves as the gateway to earth, Rainbow falls has the blessing of all the waterfalls and rain that cascade down from the heavens are all rainbow colored. These colorful waters, having fitlered through the great rainbow on thier descent, feed into several rivers and lakes all over the confederacy, including Dream Valley's own Fluttershy falls and Rainbow River. This miraculous display attacts ponies from all over the known kingdoms, and beyond!

having been spared the ravages of the Grogar wars due to his high altitude and regular unimportance, little has chaged on this high peak since the days of the harmony bearers. Tiny chalets and homes are still clustered together, some of them historic sights, dating from the time of Equestria itself. The ponies who live up here are of a particularly friendly bent, untouched by the concerns of the rest of our violent land. It is here the Rainbow Monks established thier monistary after the fall of the old kingdom, and it now serves as a retreat for both those who come here to relax and contemplate, or those seeking to admire the beauty of this timeless, unhanging place.

"My word! Paradise, is that you?!" A Mare with a flowing rainbow mane called out to me, galloping up to greet me with a smile. "It's so wonderful to see you again!"

Getting of the train, I happened to run into Parasol, one of the rainbow monks whom I had befriended when she visited Dream Valley. We talked plestanly for a few minutes before she offered to take me back to the monestary for a bite to eat. I always admired these deeply spiritual ponies, with thier colorful hair that moves like a flowing river. I often wonder if the alicorn Princesses hadn't spent some time with this sisterhood, and earned thier own flowing manes through enlightenment as the rainbow monks did. I myself would never have the patience for the meditation and prayers to B'zekre that these mares devote thier lives to, so I have nothing but total respect for that.

As we trot inside the moestary's walls, I notice the beautifully kepts gardens and rows of trees the monks tend to and cultivate. Boh the monks and the native ponies up here have a deep respect for nature, and it is through thier tender and loving care that they have preseved this bastion of the world our ancestors knew. She soons guides me into the dining hall, whre I am treated to a meal of slated pretzels, various cheeses, and three tankards of non-fermented apple cider, all grown or hoof- prepared by the mares of the order.

"Wow, this is all so amazing!" I tell her, as I watch several of the monks meditate under the banyon grove. "f I wen't due in Fort Dash for the holiday, I'd love to spend my Spring Festival here!"

"You're not the only one who enjoys our peace," Parasol tells me poninting a hoof over at several Pegusai exercising over in an open field. "Look who else decided to come here for a little R&R."

As I look over to where she is pointing, I see several mares wearing farmiliar blue and yellow uniforms and goggles. My eyes go wide, as I realize just what group I am looking at.

"The Wonderbolts?!What the heck are they doing here? " I ask in disbelief, my jaw hitting the floor at the sight of them. "The 'bolts are supposed to be peforming for the festival tomorrow!"

The Wonderbolts.. the proud fliers of Forst Dash, who are supposed to represent the best flying mares in all of Ponyland. while this is the thrid incarnation of the team, but thier proud heritage extends all the way back to the sealing of nightmare moon. I've seen them performing in flying competitions in Dream Valley a few times, as they are fierce rivals of our own team, the Lightning Bolts. It is then that Twinkler, the translucent purple crystal pony who is the team's captian, notices me standing off to the side.

"Why, Lady Paradise!" She greets me, trotting up to where Parasol and I are. "I heard you were coming to the ceremoines tomorrow. I guess you wanted to see a real team of Fliers soar, intead of Dream Valley's little group of wannabe posers, huh?"

"Oh, I am really looking forward to your performace tomorrow." I tell her with an eager smile. "Firefly has told me all about-"

"Firefly? You mean that Fort Dash turncoat who refused to join our team?" The mare snorted indignantly. "I can't believe our best flyer ran out on her home citadel, to say nothing that she's named after the very founder of our team, _and_ descended from our greatest flier!"

"Ohhh-kaaaay..." I reply, smiling nervously, and taking a step back. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I'm going to go relax in the monestary's hot spring's now..."

As Parasol led me away, I realized I had forgotten just how intense team rivalries and competitions can get. Later, as I was relaxing in the warm and bubbling hot pool set abve a hot geyser, I wondered just what awaited me at Fort Dash tomorrow...

Entry 3- Fort Rainbow Dash**·** 3:44pm

Following my relaxing dip in the hot springs, I passed a pleasant night in one of the monastery's hostel rooms, before I was again on my way towards Fort Dash. As our train approached the great city, I gazed upon the great Doric and ionic columns of the city with awe. As I step off the train, I am greeted by the sight of a complex and orderly metropolis. There is so much white marble everywhere, that I have to shield my eyes with my wings to block the brightness in the glistening sun.

As if on cue, a trio of mares march straight up to me, and salute. They are all clad in artistically designed suits of armor, each uniquely suited to the temperament and build of the pony wearing them.

"Greetings lady Paradise. We are honored by your presence." The purple mare greeted me professionally. "I am lieutenant Sunny Bunch, and her Excellency the Margrave has asked us to escort you on your visit through Fort Rainbow Dash."

"I thank the Margrave for her thoughtfulness; and you, for your diligent service." I reply respectfully, inclining my head. These are the merry-go-round guard, the elite all-mare team that serve as the city's special forces. Their armor may look pretty and girly with all those ribbons and tassels, but that beauty hides their deadly potency. There are few foes of Ponykind that can withstand their Carousel formation attack.

As I follow the three guards through the forum, we pass many Pegasus, unicorns, and earth ponies, all clad in chitons (robes I personally think look like shower curtains, heh heh), and going about their business in orderly and timely manner. Fort Dash is a military city of order and structure, the only place for spontaneity and chaos is the battlefield. Today is a day to celebrate the orderly change of the seasons from winter to spring, a festival of continuation of the passage of time hat ensures stability and order in Ponyland.

Making our way to the great amphitheatre just below the acropolis I am spectator to the great sporting events that are used to commemorate the arrival of spring- racing, strength, and jumping events for the earth ponies. Contests of magical prowess and skill for the unicorns, and swimming events for the local sea pony teams. Each type of pony was given the opportunity to compete and shine in their particular way, and the gathered audience watched and cheered them on with much excitement! It is really a treat to watch all these athletic and talented ponies perform!

Of particular interest to me, was the flying obstacle courses and aerial races for the Pegasus. I watch the boastful Wonderbolts zoom and soar across the skies, performing double loops and sonic rainbooms, and wowing the crowds by filling the skies with a tapestry of colors. I will admit the show is a sight to behold, and is matched only b the display put on by our Dream Valley lighting bolts, who follow them with their own spectacular show. Using their weather tricks to conjure up black clouds and shoot lightning across the sky, the visiting team earns a respectful applause from the crowds around me, but nothing like the acclaim they had given the Wonderbolts. When the judges declare the home team the victor, I am surprised when captain Lofty and captain Twinkler shake hooves, showing that while there may be team rivalries, friendly competition is still the way of Ponyland sports.

We all let out of the amphitheatre, and I go to the vendors in the _agora_ to sample the finest of Fort Dash's foods. I then stuff myself with Pita pockets filled with salads and feta cheese, Dream Valley-style Gyros filled with lamb meat (they figured a lot of us would be here, to cheer our team on for the spring games), and honey-flavored _thiples_ rolls. I cannot begin to proclaim how simply wonderful thier cooking was! I will say these Fort Dashian chefs sure know their way around a flaming hot grill! The carousel guard had to practically DRAG me away for the food stalls for the next event!

As the evening followed on, a grand military parade followed, with the citadel's proud stallion hoplites and gladiators, shining in their bright armor as they twirled their shining gladiuses. Mighty soldiers in Fort Dash's war machine, the deadliest fighting force in all of Ponyland, who protects the confederacy from all external threats. Just thinking of those shapely stallion flanks, those rippling muscles, those, those... ohhhhhh *pant pant pant pant pant* Merely watching these stallion warriors go by, and this mare needs to fan herself to cool down!

*AHEM* Anyway... the parade was followed by smaller events- dramatic performances as the smaller neighborhood theatres, one of which I was invited to attend. It was a _comedia_ based on the friendship of harmony bearers Rainbow dash and Applejack. The chorus sang a _dithyramb_ about how competitive the two mares were, and of a particular incident in an iron pony competition their rivalry led to a breach in their friendship, with much hilarious results. The play ends with a happy resolution, of course, and the play closes to the applause of it's small audience.

Nightfall comes, and we are all treated to a spectacular fireworks display in the sky over Fort Dash. As I stand watching the display in front of the fountain of the two sisters, i cannot but help at wonder at this town's ponies- the descendants of proud Stallions and mares, whose strength and refusal to roll over die in the face of dangerous foes, allowed them to reorganize their society into a fighting force that could survive the Grogar wars. As I looked back at the two statues of Celestia and Luna spitting water in the center of the fountain behind me, I feel a burst of gratitude two the two unicorns who help lay the foundations for the wonderful society we live in today.

Well, that's all I have for Fort Dash!

Entry 4- Misty Mountian

For my next spring festival report, I shall tale about the spring _fete_ that is held every year at Misty Mountian fortress every year. I small reacall a particular year I visited the mighty citadel, some time back when the former alicorn monarch still governed the city. It is a remarkable kingdom with a remarkable history, and I shall truly never forget my remarkable experiences during my many visits there. For the ponies of Misty Mountian, the arrival of Spring is the return of the growing season along the terraced mountain sides near the citadel. And in these snow-capped reigons, that is reason enough to celebrate!

Among the snowy hills and peaks of Ponyland's mighty mountian ranges, with cloudy peaks and pure blue skies. The train takes us across elevated bridges so high, all I can see is the seemingly bottomless gorges enshrouded by the mists far below. As we go along I notice small guard houses dotting the mountiansides, and pony herders ushering thier sheep along the rolling hills. As our train pulls along towards the greatest peak of them all- Misty Mountian, an amazing sight stretcehes out before me.

Misty Mountian fortress is a mighty, crystalline stucture that spreads across three peaks, conneted by crystal bridges and elevated roadways running between the three. Within the citadel's walls, chalet-style shops and homes, built in the archetectural likeness of earth's Bavarian mountian villages, standing side by side in neat little orderly rows. The ponies of this land are all out in the streets celebrating, clinking hoof carved cider tankards together, and dancing the polka to the souds of the accordion.

Stallions in lederhosen, and mares in traditional _drindil_ dresses move about through the crowds. Going into the local dressmaker's upon my arrival, it is not long before I too am dressed like the female ponies here, and I begin to sample the Spring festival's wonders. A dance around the maypole comes first, as is the custom for all the _frauliens_ present at the spring festival. Taking a stand of ribbon in my mouth, and trotting around the pole in a cricle with all the other mares, until we have completely wrapped the pole in streamers of many colors. The tall green pole is decorated with the symbols of every guild in misty mountian, proudly symbolizing thier craft and civic pride.

Next comes a stallion's event; the whipcracking contest. The males will test thier strength by cracking long whips against the ground in large open areas, in order to 'drive the snow and cold of winter away'. Points are awarded based on style, strength of the whip crack, and loudness of the craking sound. It was a really fun even to observe, and the most fun aspect of all was that every maiden present got to kiss the winner. We all rushed forward in a big mass to give him his 'reward', and I think we left that poor bewildered stallion's face covered in lipstick, ha ha!

What followed then was a great blowing of Misty Mountian's alphorns- large, gound-sized horns blown to call back the sheep who were grazing all over the landscape. We all lined the outer walls of the citadel, and our ears were greeted by the mighty blast of the horns, ao powerful that they made the surrounding mountiansides shake. This louds noise was followed by another- the souds of misty mountian's yodeling troupe. With all the noise those ponies made, with thier loud voices echoing across the hills and valleys, I'm amazed all that sound didn't cause an avalanche up here.

The citadel's ruler, Pricess Mi Amore Cadenza, was in attendance for this event, and I actually had the chance to speak to the great ruler. While I will admit the last living alicorn in Ponyland is as beautiful as the ancient ledgends say, I must say the great ruler of Misty Mountian has a very spotty memory for a pony her age. I had to tell her my name three times, and twice her crystal pony assistants had to remind her why she was here. It's no wonder pony hitorians can't get anything about old equestria out of her, I wonder how she can remeber her own name. And I almost feel sorry for the crystal pony minority living here in the citadel- they've never numbered more than a hundred, I've been told. And if something should hapeen to the monarch whom thier ancestors came here with, I fear these few, already inbred, crystal pony families would be scattered to the four winds here in ponyland.

Finally, I was invited the the aunnual Applejack cider drink-off, the most anticipated event here in Misty Mountian fortress. These ponies really love thier cider, so it makes since they they'd honor the harmony bearer who is most well known for the aplle-flavored drink here. As we all have a seat at the long benches in the great cider guild hall, tankard after tankard of the sweet flowing liquid is set before us, and we quickly down each tankard, eating slat-covered pretzels between each glass to soften the blow between each glass. The winner is the pony who can imbibe the most apple juice, so I don't really think I stand a chance against these Misty Mountian pros.

Oh my *hic* my seventeeth glass has left me *hic* a little woozy. Maybe I'll just dive under this little table here, and *hic* take a liiiiitle nappy for a while. Ohhhh heyyyyy, it's that really cute stallion I was talking to at the whip cracking contest, he's under here, and I think he's had as much cider as I have. Ohhh, he's smiling at me now, and he's coming over to *hic*. Oh my... hee hee... wooooow... *hic*

Paradise Oasis


	12. Chapter 12

_The Snow Ponies of the Crystal Empire- entry one_

For my next report on Ponyland, dear readers, I have decided to take this journal to the far and frozen north. At the request of ambassador Powder, I am accompanying the white unicorn up towards the frozen wastes, on the recently restored arctic rail line. Here, we are going to meet with the confederacy of pony tribes that make up the confederacy's closest and strongest allies amongst the equine nations, the wondrous winter wonderland known as the Crystal Empire. Here, the great herds of the snow ponies dwell among the wastes, eking out a living in a harsh and brutal region where only the strongest survive. Although the crystal ponies can be found living among the other equine types in all the Ponyland communities, these snow ponies are the only nation that is entirely made up of their crystalline pony type.

When Powder and I arrived in Iceridge, one of the southern most snow pony villages, and here we were greeted like royalty. Always under assault by the terrible yetis and other brutal predators of the north, these villages rarely get visitors up here. So when a pony braves the cold and terrible snow to come and greet these isolated equines, they are treated with the most generous hospitality seen anywhere in the herds. Powder's friend Mistletoe - a white earth mare with a red and pink mane- showed me around the village, a wonderful collection of crystal igloos where these ponies have their homes, shops, and holy shrines. It is amazing to see their handiwork; such finely crafted works of crystalline art, standing among the ice and snow. A warmth seems to radiate from these ponies, a love that drives back the bitter cold from their community, allowing them to not only survive here, but thrive.

These equines have much in common with us ponyland ponies, but culturally also bear resemblances to our equestrian ancestors. The three crystalline pony types each do their part here- the Pegasus artistically crafting the snowflakes and frozen patterns of ice, the earth ponies shaping the crystal their homes and furniture are made out of, crafting the precious translucent substance as it comes from the earth they are so in tune with, and the unicorns using their magic to create heating spells, and provide warmth and protection against the dangers that threaten the tribes. Clad in parkas and hoof mukluks, these brave snow ponies are the only herds that can withstand this harsh and brutal climate. And over the next several days, I shall record entries telling you of this wintry world, and it's equine denizens. I hope you'll enjoy my frostbitten tail- er, tale!

As I began my tour of the arctic lands of the Crystal Empire, I am only more and more impressed by the high level of civilization and culture the tribes of the north possess. After a warm welcome at the village of Iceridge, Powder and I are treated to a great feast of oats, fish, and the few healthy vegetable crops the tribe are able to grow in their magically heated indoor gardens. As we eat and share pleasant conversation amongst ourselves, we listen to Mistletoe and her quintet of mares performing the classical art of snow pony throat singing. Accompanied by a single vocal performer and the playing of crystal flugal horns, this ancient and respected art has the singers using their throat vocalizations to not only create a harmonious melody, but to also tell a story. We listen to the ballad of the noble dragon Spike, a great hero in crystal empire history who saved the empire from the hated tyrant King Sombra. I have never seen a spectacle such as this, and recommend it to anyone who would desire to venture this far north.

After our pleasant stay in the small village, we then made our way by crystal gondola along the grand canal towards our next destination. It was extremely fun standing on the deck as the gondoliers pushed us along through the water, my warm breath turning into steam as soon as it sits the cold air. As we glide along, Powder tells me fables about the various animals carved into the translucent crystal totem poles lining either side of the canal. The snow ponies have a complex mythology, filled with fantastical tales of creatures from every corner of the world. These stories have been passed down orally for generations without change, despite the Crystal Empire having a written language for over a millennia. I consider it an honor that Powder sought to share this aspect of her culture with me.

"...and so, Edgar the elephant and Oakley the moose became the dearest of friends." My unicorn friend narrated. "And by proving their friendship to their tribes, prevented a terrible war that would have destroyed both tribes."

"You tell such amazing stories, Powder!" I complimented her. "It's such a shame you haven't gotten to share these beautiful tales with the rest of Ponydom."

The Crystal empire has so much rich history and culture, it's ponies a proud and hearty tribe who have endured more pain and suffering than any herd in Ponyland should ever have to. Their capital was destroyed by the lava demons years before the fall of Equestria, and princess Cadence abdicated the throne in favor of her eldest daughter, who became the alicorn empress Dazzleglow. Their empire rode out the Grogar wars in relative peace, this frozen wasteland being of little interest to Tirek's dark alliance, and actually helped the new Ponyland rebuild in the aftermath of that horrible conflict. We owe so much to these translucent ponies, who magically keep their kingdom strong and safe with the love they radiate, and they deserve to have their stories told. For my next entry, I will be telling of my visit to the royal ice palace, and my meeting with the ruler of this proud snowbound herd.

Paradise Oaisis


End file.
